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CALLIGRAPHY

and

ISLAMIC CULTURE

Annemarie Schimmel

I.B.TAURIS Sc Co Ltd

Publishers

London

Published in 1990 by
LB.Tauris & Co Lid
] 10 Gloucester Avenue
London NWl 8jA

All rights reserved. Except lor brief quotations in a
review, this book, or any part thereof, must not be
reproduced in any form without written permission
from the Publisher,

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Schimmel, Amiemarie 1922—

Calligraphy and Islamic culture
I . I slamic cal tig i aphy , to 197 5— Cri lica I si ud ies
L Title
745,6 r l99'27

ISBN 1-85043-186-8
ISBN I -85043- 1 87-6 pbk

Manufactured in the United States

In memoriam

Ernst Kuhnel
Richard Ettinghausen

The divine in the didactic is the meaning of calligraphy. Islam, we might
say, marries with the cursive flow of the Arabic hand and the authority
of that ever-running script, with its endless occasions of aitistic hec-
dom within the rigorous constraints of its curving shapes and lines and
parallels, occupies Islamic art hardly less thoroughly than the scriptuie
determines its religion. The believer must he reader, not spectator: he
will not be educated by imagery, only by the text. It is the pen, cele-
brated in the Qur’an, which merits the perpetual pride of hand and

eye.

Kenneth Cragg
“The Art of Theology"

Contents

Foreword ix

The Arabic Alphabet xiii

I Styles of Calligraphy 1

II Calligraphers, Dervishes, and Kings 35

III Calligraphy and Mysticism 77

IV Calligraphy and Poetry 115

Appendix A 149

Appendix B 155

Abbreviations in Notes and Bibliography 1 59

Notes 161

Bibliography 209

Index of Proper Names 233

Index of Technical Terms 251

Index of Koran and Prophetic Traditions 260

Index of Book Titles 262

Color plates follow p. 33
Black-and-white plates follow p. 76

Vll

Foreword

When I was asked, in 1979, to deliver the Kevorkian Lectures in
1981—82, the suggested theme was calligraphy* I very gladly ac-
cepted the topic, imagining that I would speak, in the four lectures,
about the various styles of calligraphy and about the development
of the Arabic script in its different forms from the early Kufi to
modern calligraphic painting, I discovered, however, that in spite of
the numerous recent publications on Islamic calligraphy, most of
which excel by the quality of their pictures, little had been written
about the position of the calligrapher or his training, There was also
a certain lack of information about the religious significance of cal-
ligraphy in Muslim culture, a topic closely related to my interest in
the study of Sufism. Furthermore, the indulgence of Arabic and
Persianate poets in wordplays and puns based on the terminology
of calligraphy had always been loathed rather than appreciated, let
alone enjoyed, by Western scholars and seemed to deserve special
treatment*

Several informative Persian and even more i urkish works con-
cerning the biographies of calligraphers, to which some Arabic his-

torical material was added, proved a mine not only of information
but aba of joy and, at times, amusement; Sufi texts unfolded ever
new aspects of letter mysticism and cabalistic wordplays; and out of
the thousands of examples of the use of calligraphic imagery in the
poetry in all Islamic languages that 1 had collected over many years,
I selected a handful that seemed to cover the major topics of this
inexhaustible field. Thus, the lectures took the form in which they
are now offered to the public after they were delivered, in late Feb-
ruary and early March 1982, at New York University, accompanied
by a great number of color slides. The transcription follows the gen-
erally accepted rules; in case of Turkish words, we usually follow
the modern Turkish usage. Dates are given in the Christian era,
unless a certain page or document bears a kijra date; this is then
given as well.

I have to thank many friends for their help and encouragement.
First of all, my thanks are due to the inviting institution, the Kevor-
kian Foundation and New York University, who did everything to
make my visits to New York enjoyable. I am particularly grateful to
Professor R, Bayly Winder, Chairman of the Hagop Kevorkian Cen-
ter for Middle Eastern Studies, and to Professor Peter Chelkowski
and his wife Goga, in whose hospitable home I stayed during my
visits. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Fogg
Art Museum, Harvard University, were most generous in providing
me with photographs and facilitated my search for new material.
Stuart Cary Welch shared his knowledge with me in numerous en-
livened discussions about artistic problems. Wolfhart Heinrichs,
Harvard University, patiently answered some questions concerning
classical Arabic poetry, and Wheeler M. Thackston, Jr., Harvard
University, was kind enough to read, as he had done before, ray
manuscript and made valuable suggestions. My research assistant,
Ali S. Asani, never tired of locating relevant material in the libraries
and checking references*

Carol Cross in the Department of’ Near Eastern Languages and
Cultures, Harvard University, carefully typed the text of the man-
uscript and thus relieved me of a heavy burden*

This book is dedicated to the two masters and friends who did
much to kindle and keep alive my love of Islamic calligraphy: Ernst

Kiihnel, with whom I was fortunate enough to study Islamic art in
Berlin, and Richard Ettinghausen, who more than twenty years ago
expressed the hope that I would one day write a book on aspects of
Islamic calligraphy, and whose living presence we sorely missed dur-
ing the lectures.

Cambridge/Bonn

May 29, 1982 Annemarie Schimmel

The Arabic Alphabet

Trajiicrip* Numerical

lion

value

alif

■/a

400

ihtf

500

jim

kha

600

dal

dhal

700

Alone Initial Medial Final

form form form form

'ILL

£. Er

C ^ * C*

* i t «

c — Cr

A A JL JL

* * + «

A A J_ JL

XIII

Transcrip-

Numerical

Alone

Initial

Medial

Final

tion

value

form

200

J-

z(T

J-

sin

— V*

—

skin

300

U“

sad

—

dad

■i

800

'ft

J*-

tad

Jff

Ja_

zod

■I

1000

c ayn

ghayn

900

'ft

fa’

*»

qaf

100

-ft.

(j-

kaj

i L

lam

J-

mim

nun

O -

had

•

«_

uraw

yad

i_r

Idm-aliJ

XIV

Styles of
Calligraphy

Come, O pen of composition and write letters

in the name of the Writer of the Well-preserved Tablet and the Fen ! 1

Thus begins a sixteenth-century treatise on calligraphy, and the
expression is representative of the numerous formulas by which Is-
lamic poets and calligraphers began their epistles on writing. The
art of writing has played, and still plays, a very special role in the
entire Islamic culture, for by the Arabic letters — heritage of all Is-
lamic societies— the Divine Word could be preserved; and Muslims
were well aware that writing is a special quality of the human race,
“and by it man is distinguished from the other animals.” It is, as
Ibrahim ash-Shaybani stated, “the language of the hand, the idiom
of the mind, the ambassador of intellect, and the trustee ot thought,
the weapon of knowledge and the companion of brethren in the
time of separation.” 2

The field of Islamic calligraphy is almost inexhaustible, given the

various types of Arabic script and the extension of Islamic culture.
It. is therefore not surprising that a comparatively copious literature
about various aspects of Arabic calligraphy has been produced not
only in Muslim lands but also in the West, since Arabic letters were
known in Europe during the Middle Ages and were often used for
decorative purposes. The fine Kuhc inscription on the coronation
gown of the German emperor shows the west’s admiration lor Ara-
bic writing as do paintings like the famed "Madonna with the ska-
hada (profession of faith). These letters were understood as exotic
decorative devices, however, and only in the late fifteenth century
was the Arabic alphabet first made accessible to German readers in
its entirety. It is found in the travelogue of a German nobleman, Brey-
denbach, who performed a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and of-
fered his impressions of the journey to his compatriots in woodcuts,
among which is also found an awkwardly shaped Arabic alphabet.
Somewhat later presses for Arabic printing were founded, first in
Italy, then in Holland; but there was no general interest in the let-
ters used by the alleged archenemy of the Christian world. 4 As late
as in the eighteenth century, with the unbiased interest in Oriental
subjects growing, some studies were devoted to the early develop-
ment of the Arabic script; as Adolf Grohmann has shown in his
indispensable work on Arabic Paleography, J + G* C, Adler was the
first to study the Kufic inscriptions on early coins/' But one should
not forget that even Goethe, in his West-Ostlicher Divan (1819), played
with the names of various styles, such as naskh and laHiq, claiming
that, whatever style the beloved uses, it does not matter as long as
he expresses his love. Grohmann’s survey has been updated and
enlarged by Janine Sourdel-Thomine in her articles on kitdb and
khatt in the new Encyclopedia of Islam.

It was natural that the type of Arabic that first attracted the ori-
entalists was the angular script as found on the coronation gown
and on early coins, which was generally called Kofi. For a long time
it was used in Western scholarship to distinguish merely between
two major types of script— the so-called Kufi and the cursive hand,
the latter type then subdivided into the western, Maghribi character
and the style used in the Persian world, taHiq or nmtaHlq. Even A. J.
Arberry, in his handlist of the Korans in the Chester Beatty Library,

uses only these terms without entering into a more detailed defini-
tion of the cursive hands,

A debt of gratitude is owed to Nabia Abbott, who did the first
independent study of the so-called Koranic scripts, published in
1939. 6 The incoherent statements found in Arabic and Persian
sources concerning the earliest forms of Arabic writing are difficult
to disentangle. They speak often of ma c qili, which was invented, ac-
cording to legend, by the prophet Idris and had no curved lines
whatsoever. 7 Then, out of this inherited script c Ali ibn Abi Talib
allegedly developed the so-called Kufi, with a division of V& curved
and Vo straight lines — a tradition that may reflect die transition from
earlier Semitic alphabets to the elaborate Kufic style of the first cen-
turies of the Hegira. It is remarkable that a scholar like Abu liayyan
at-Tauhidi in the early eleventh century still mentions twelve basic
forms of Kufi, many of them named alter the places where they
were first used. 8 We certainly can recognize the nuVil script that,
slanting to the right rather unbeautifully, is found on some frag-
ments tn vertical format (in contrast to the horizontal formats of
Kufi Kii>rans) + 9 Nabia Abbott regards many pieces that show a slight
slant toward the left and a low, small curve at the beginning of the
alif as Meccan, but we still do not know how Medinan or Basrian
styles may have looked. It seems, however, that Kufa was indeed
one of the important centers for the art of writing, and the political
connection of c Ali ibn Abi Talib with this city accentuates the gen-
erally maintained claim that c Ali was the first master of calligraphy.
Later generations ascribe to him the invention of the “two-horned
alif” which may be the shape found in early inscriptions and called
“split arrowhead alif” As in Sufism, the spiritual pedigree of the

“Horned" alif

calligraphers invariably leads back to c Ali, and in the late fifteenth
century, SuItan- c Ali Mash had i, the famous master of nastaHiq,
claimed that “the renown of my writing is due to the name of c Ali.” 10

Franz Rosenthal correctly states that “the earliest Arabic docu-
ments of writing exhibit, to say the least, a most ungainly type of
script.” 11 One of the true miracles of Islam is how this script devel-
oped in a comparatively brief span of time into a well-proportioned,
highly refined calligraphy of superb beauty. As used for early Ko-
rans, Kufi is the liturgic script par excellence, 12 as Martin Lings has
shown with great clarity. However, it is more than doubtful whether
any of the fragments preserved in the museums date back, to the
time ol the first caliphs, as is claimed by their proud owners. As
early as in the ninth century the great mosque in Damascus boasted
of possessing a copy of c Othman’s Koran, and so did the mosque in
Cordova; this latter copy was so heavy that it had to be carried by
two men. 1 1 The terminus ante quern, for a fragment or a copy of the
Koran can be established only when the piece has a waqf note, show-
ing the date of its accession in a certain library. The earliest datable
fragments go back to the first quarter of the eighth century; but it
is possible that the recently discovered Korans in Sanaa, which are
at present being inventoried and analyzed by a German team, may
offer a f urther due to the early development of writing. Less prob-
lematic, of course, is the date of coins and of architectural Kufi.

The very impressive, sometimes truly festive character of the old-
est Korans— which were written in muskaf, that is, book form, as
distinguished from the papyrus scrolls with profane texts 14 — may
suggest that at least some of them were written tabarrukan, or for
the sake of blessing, rather than for reading purposes. They may
have also served for the hufjtiz and qurra\ who had committed to
memory the Holy Book but wanted a written support. Diacritical
marks and signs for vowels were added in the days of c Abdul-Malik
(685) in order to avoid misreadings of the sacred text; 15 colored ink
was used for this purpose, and thus the poets would compare such
manuscripts to a colorful garden.

The number ol known Kufi Korans and fragments is remarkably
great and increases almost dally, but no two of them seem to be
completely identical in style. The majority, with the exception of the
mail fragments, are written on vellum in horizontal format. Often
only three to five lines of black or brown letters fill the page, and
the letters on the hairy side of the parchment are usually faded; as
the poet says:

After being full of glory the places became desolate desert,

Like lines of writing when books are worn out. 1Ei

Sometimes golden ornamentation is used for sura headings or to
separate the ay as; in some cases groups of five dyas are separated by
a minute h , a letter whose numerical value is 5. Generally the alif
begins with a crescent-shaped curve at the lower right, the n goes

Kufic alif

straight down without any curve, and r and w are Hat and curled in
themselves. Dal, kdf\ and UV can be extended to a great length ac-
cording to the space at the writer's disposal, and one can understand
why Persian poets of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries spoke of
someone's heart or intellect as being “as narrow as a Kufic kaf” The

Kufic kdf

distance between the single letters is almost equal — grammatical
considerations are not taken into account — which also holds true for
the separation of words from line to line.

The measurements of the early Koran s vary as widely as those of
later times. A tradition ordered God's Word to he written in large
letters, and most Korans seem to comply with this injunction; but
there are also miniature copies. A fragment on fine vellum, 7 by 4

U^. Li*

Beginning of the first three lines of Sura 8 1 , wa idhd a , from an early
Koran, showing the equal distance between the letters. After Moritz,
Arabic Palaeography

cm, with fourteen lines on the page, written in brownish ink, is as
meticulously calligraphed as large manuscripts. Whether such a
pocket Koran was meant for a traveling scholar, an officer in the
caliphal army, or a merchant is unknown. 17

Some Koran copies were written on colored paper. A famous ex-
ample is the one whose greatest part is preserved in Tunis, frag-
ments of which are found in Western museums. It is written in
golden letters on dark blue vellum, and one may assume that cross-
relations with Byzantium may have inspired the artist, since the use
of purple and other colored paper for official Byzantine documents
is attested. (A good example is the purple letter sent by Constantine
VII Porphyrogenetos to c Abdur-Rahman of Cordova in 949.) An-
other possible source of influence may be Manichean art. Mani ap-
pears constantly in Persian poetical imagery as the painter par ex-
cellence, and precious, lavishly decorated Manichean writing from
Central Asia may have influenced the use of colored and gilded pa-
per in some sectarian or mystical writings; that seems to be the case
in the correspondence of Hallaj, which aroused the suspicion of the
Baghdadi authorities . 1 8

As we can barely date any of the early Koran s and only very few
names of calligraphers are known, 19 the problem of their prove-
nance is equally puzzling. If all the Korans now preserved in Tunis
were written in Ifriqiyya, a flourishing school of calligraphy must
have existed there during the first centuries of the Hegira. Some-
what later this "school” produced also one of the most unusual Ko-
rans hitherto known, the so-called Mushaf al-kddina, which was or-
dered by the nurse of the Zirid prince al-Mu c izz ibn Badis in 1019-
20. It is in a vertical format, with five lines on pages measuring 45
by 31 cm. The letters with "teeth” are slanting toward the left; the
rounded ones look like buds, resembling the eastern varieties of Kufi
much more than the Maghribi style that began to emerge about the
same time. 20 Given the mobility of Islamic artists, the possibility can-
not be excluded that a calligrapher from Iran may have spent a
more or less extended period of his life in Tunisia; but this is highly
speculative. Interestingly, Ibn Badis himself composed a book on
“pens, ink, and script.” 21

Eastern Kufi seems to have developed out of an apparently innate

tendency of the Persians to use a slightly slanting script. The first
known example of eastern Kufi is dated 972. Eastern Kuhc Korans
belong to a period when the art of the book had developed consid-
erably, mainly because of the introduction of paper in 751, and are
frequently written on paper instead of vellum; the vertical format
used for profane works was adopted also. Diagonal lines became
predominant; the high endings of t and k> utterly flat in early Kufi,
assume elegant long strokes toward the right; and triangular forms
become a distinctive feature of both the letters in general and the
ending curves, which are sometimes filled with minute triangles. Eric

dal in plaited decorative Kufi, from the border of a Koran, fifteenth
century

Schroeder suggested that this might have been the badi c script men-
tioned in Arabic historical works, but this is not the case. 22 Eastern
Kufi found its most perfect expression in a style called — without ob-
vious reason— Karmathian Kufi, represented by a Koran, scattered
pages of which are found all over the world. The numerous exam-
ples allow a stylistic analysis that may help to answer the question
whether the Kufic calligrapher carefully planned and outlined each
of his pages or whether he was able to visualize the completed page
and write it without previous modeling. 23 In this Koran the combi-
nation of very slender letters with a colored arabesque background
is fascinating; it is echoed in the tombstone of Mas c ud 111 in Ghazni.

Eastern Kufi developed into a smaller variant used in numerous
Korans written in eastern Iran and Afghanistan, of which the pre-
sent owners usually claim that they are at least from the time of
caliph c Othman« This style, in ever more delicate form, continued
to be used for such decorative purposes as chapter headings after
Korans were no longer written in this hand. It still occupies a place
in contemporary book decoration.

rabbuka “your Lord 5 *, late decorative Kufi, from the border of a fif-
teenth century Koran

Western Kufi probably developed a character of its own about the
same time as its eastern cousin; its characters are very pronounced
long, round endings of the n> and so on, which foreshadowed the
wide endings of the later Maghribi script.

min, from a North African Koran, tenth century, with the nun de-
veloping into the Maghribi form

Kufic Korans and the few profane manuscripts in this style always
remained legible; but, when the script was used on material other
than vellum or paper, new forms had to be developed. Coins and
seals offer some beautiful and finely incised shapes of letters that
had to be fitted into a small round space, so that the shapes of these
letter s had to undergo some changes. Particularly difficult to disen-
tangle are inscriptions on woven material, the so-called tiraz work,
which was either woven into linen or silk with different threads of
varying colors or, more rarely, embroidered on the fabric. Th efiraz
inscription would mention the name of the ruler or of a vizier who
had ordered the piece of cloth from one of the official looms, and
it might also contain some good wishes for them, blessings over the
Prophet, or the like. Ernst Kuhnel, to whom we owe the most im-
portant studies of tirdz } rightly describes the group, most examples
of which are preserved (the Fatimid tiraz), as an art form “in which
calligrapher and weaver sometimes seem to compete to make the
deciphering of the decorative borders as difficult as possible .’* 24
Whoever has tried to read the Yemeni fabrics in the Boston Mu-
seum of Fine Arts will agree with him ! 25 Similar difficulties may also
be encountered in ceramics, although the material itself offered

fewer problems for calligrapher s, who usually devised harmonious
formulas of blessings or popular adages to fill the borders of bowls
and plates. Good ceramic Kufi often has a tine incised line around
the letters to distinguish them properly* 26 1 he difficulties for the
reader begin with the numerous inscriptions that are not the works
of a master calligrapher but seem to be hastily jotted on the glaze
and may often consist of no more than remnants of pious wishes*
Easiest to follow is the development of Kufi on stone, beginning
from the simple inscription on the Nilometer in Rau da/Cairo. 1 he
discovery of a comparatively large number of tombstones in Egypt
that date from the eighth to the tenth century enables the scholar
to trace the development of the decoration: the extension of letters
(maskq) that was then filled with secondary devices called musannam
and looking, as the name indicates, like camels' humps, or with flo-
riated and foliated hilliyas that were used to fill the space between,
beneath, and above the letters. 27 The horror vacui, which is con-
sidered a formative principle in so much of Islamic decoration, seems
to have contributed to the invention of these forms that, in the course
of time, developed into the innumerable varieties of floriated and
foliated Kufi, to which the plaited Kufi was very soon added. The
letters Ititn and alif ] which form the article in Arabic and that are
repeated time and again in the profession of faith as well as in the
word Allah, induced the artists to plait their stems in ingenious ways*
And it should be kept in mind that the central concept of Islam—
the word A llak ~ offered infinite possibilities to artists, who would fill
the space between its two / s with knots, flowers, stars, and other
designs, which, if put in their proper context, serve the art historian
to date Kufic inscriptions ** The tendency to embellish the name of

Allah with decorative developments between the two lam. Egypt,
tombstones, eighth century. After Basse m Z aki

God was not restricted to one area: the stucco band with the word
Allah from Sard Pul in Afghanistan, dated 1 164, 29 and a window

screen consisting of the same word and built in Zaragossa, Spain, at

about i he same time show that these decorative tendencies were uni-
versal^

The plaiting, oiten combined with foliation, attained its greatest
perfection in the thirteenth century, 31 when the Seljuks in Anatolia
found some superb solutions for this calligraphic device (as in Sivas
and Konya), while the inscription at Iltutmishs tomb in Delhi, which
is slightly earlier, proves that as far east as the recently conquered
Indian cities plaiting had assumed an important role, undoubtedly
introduced from Afghanistan with its superb Ghaznavid and Ghorid
inscriptions. Finally, the mathematical regularity of plaits and knots

Idm-alif in plaited Rufi

rather than the letters themselves determined the calligraphic pre-
sentation. The last great example of this art is the profession of faith
in its Shia form in Oljaitifs mihrdh in the Friday Mosque in Isfahan,
dated 1307, which appears to the untutored eye merely as a network
of arabesques.

Ihis inscription has an almost magical character; indeed, one may
understand it as a kind of amulet; for such inscriptions as this, illeg-
ible as they might appear, conveyed baraka to the onlooker. One is
even inclined to say that, the more incomprehensible the text
seemed, the more it radiated this quality of sacredness, as Richard
Eftinghausen has duly stressed. 32 Seen from a different angle, the
regularly posited knots and foliation are comparable to the radSf (the
constantly repeated rhyme word of a Persian poem), because the
artistic vision out of which both emerged— the poem with its mon-
orhyme and the regularly ornamentalized Kufi— is the same.

Kufic writing is usually thought to lie connected with Arabic texts,
whether the Koran, or sacred sayings, at times historical inscrip-
tions. However, the complicated ductus was used even For Persian

“Verily we belong to God, and to Him we return” {Sura 2/151), in
plaited Kufi, Shifa’iye Medrese, Sivas, Turkey, 1278

works, and there exists a long poetical inscription of Mas c ud 111
(1099-1 115) in Ghazni that contains a heroic epic with which he had
his palace decorated. Other inscriptions in Kufic Persian are found
in Bukhara, Uzgend, Delhi, and Nakhchfewan* 33

The development of Kufic epigraphy was largely due to the ma-
terial used. While stucco inscriptions could assume an almost tapes-
try like quality, working with bricks required a different technique
out of which angular forms developed, leading to the shatmnjf (rec-
tangular) Kufi, Minarets in Central Asia and Afghanistan (Minarad
Jam) show some of the earliest examples of this style; and the names
of the Prophet and the righteous caliphs in the “Turkish triangles”
in the Karatay Medrese in Konya (1251) are among the earliest ex-
amples of rectangular Kufi in tilework and contrast in this same
building with a most intricate Kufic inscription that fills the drum of
the dome; the latter led to highly refined stellar forms. Shatmnjf
Kufi became a favorite with artists in Iran and Turan. The Timurid
masters in Samarqand and Herat and the Safavid architects in Isfa-
han and elsewhere invented delightful ornaments consisting of the

Huwa Allah, fourfold, in quadrangular Kufi “He is God”

names of God, His Prophet, and the First Imam c Ali, 34 or of pious
formulas, which were inserted in colorful tiles in the overall pattern
of vaults, entrances, and domes, This rectangular Kufi was at times
used for book decoration and has lately inspired some modern Mus-
lim artists to develop new forms of art.

The conviction of the first students of Islamic calligraphy (also
held by some Islamic historians) that the cursive hands developed
out of the Kufi has long been discarded. We now know that there
was always a cursive hand in which people jotted down various texts,
business transactions, and so forth on leather and palm leaves but
mostly on papyrus. Grohmann, studying the numerous papyri avail-
able, has shown how this nonliiurgical style of writing developed in
the first centuries of Islam. 35

The cursive hand began to be shaped more elegantly with the
arabization of the dlwdn under the Omayyad caliph c Abdul- Malik in
697, when particular scripts for the chancellery were required.
The fi rst name to be mentioned is that of Khalid ibn AbiTHayyaj,
who wrote poems, informative news, and also Koran s during the
rules of al-Walid and c Omar II, that is, in the first two decades of
the eighth century. We do not know, however, whether the Korans
were written in Kufi or in cursive hand on papyrus, a style of which
a fragment has been preserved.

The development of the cursive hand and its use by both the war-
rdq (the copyist) and the mukarrir (who was in charge of the clean
copying of manuscripts in the chancelleries) resulted in a whole lit-
erature on the duties of a katib (secretary) in which the rules for the
construction of letters, the cutting of the pen, the preparation of
both types of ink, midad and hibr y and the whole vocabulary con-
nected with these occupations were discussed at length. This litera-
ture also provided the katib with all necessary grammatical, histori-
cal, geographical, and ethical information. 36 Qalqashandfs Subk al-
a L sha y the fourteen -volume manual for the Mamin k chancellery in
Egypt, is a good summary of earlier works and presents a very lucid
introduction to the art of writing in its third volume, 37

The earliest chancellery scripts must have been very heavy; their
prototype was tum&r, described by Nabia Abbott as an angular Kufic
style but understood later as a powerful scr ipt written with a broad
pen, often in loops and connections of letters not permitted in other

styles, and without dots; it was then mainly used for the ruler’s sig-
nature* The pious caliph "Omar II regarded the large measute-
ments of tkaqtl tumdr documents used by his predecessor as a sheer
waste of money and urged Ills secretaries to use a smaller hand for
documents* Heavy tumdr and so-called shamt (Syrian) script were
discarded by the c Abbasids, who instead used a pen called nisf (half)
for their own outgoing documents; smaller styles were prescribed
for correspondence between officials, such as thuluth (one third). I he
rule was that a person with lower rank used smaller letters when
writing to his superior* 3 *

The most frequently used script for documents was In-

vented by Yusuf* the brother of Ibrahim as-Sijzi, it remained the
preeminent chancellery script and could be used in different sizes
according to the rank of the addressee and the importance of the
document. Each style had a small {khaji) and a large (jail) variant.
Ishaq ibn Harnmad, secretary to the 1 Abbasid caliph al-Mahdi (775-
85), is mentioned as the first to have founded a real “school” of
calligraphy; the names of fifteen of his disciples are mentioned.
Slightly later Ahmad ibn Abi Khalid al-Ahwal, “the Squint-eyed/’
worked for al-Ma’mun. Qalqashandi, following the earlier sources,
ascribes to him the invention of a variety of styles, among them khatt
al-mu*amamt (for correspondence between amirs), khatt al-qisas (for
small pieces of paper), and ghubdr al-hilya (“for secrets and for pi-
geon post”)* But we do not know what these styles looked like* It is
attested that a document written by al-Ahwal— a letter from Ma mun
to the Byzantine emperor — was exhibited in Constantinople lor its
unusual beauty A 9 As Ma’mun’s rule gave rise to numerous ventures
in the field of science, philosophy, and theology, it was apparently
also a crucial period for the development of calligraphy. The cal-
iph’s vizier, al-Fadl ibn Sahl Dhub -Riyasatain, is credited with shap-
ing, at the caliph’s behest, the nydsl script that seems to be a more
compact form of ni$f with a large space between the lines. This script

was accepted for Ma’mun’s bureau* 40

Documents could be written on paper of various colors, according
to the exigencies of protocol. 41 A story that provides an idea of how
these medieval forerunners of the long Ottoman and Persian firmans
may have looked is told about the Sahib Ibn r: Abbad, vizier, callig-
rapher, and famed litterateur* In 996, he produced, for the mves-

vlu£= d $/■%

Model of the tauqi c style, written in 13241V19Q6, with the ligatures
between the final letters of words and the initial alif of the following
letter

titure of the qddi al-qudat (chief judge), a document of seven hundred
lines, each of them written on one sheet of Samarqandi paper; the
whole scroll was rolled up and put in a sheath of ivory, which looked
like a thick column. This wonderful document was presented — al-

most one century later — to Nizamulmulk, along with a Koran that
contained an interlinear translation in red and an explanation of
difficult expressions in blue; those verses which could be applied to
practical purposes were marked in gold, 42

The use of colored inks was likewise common in the chancelleries.
The letter that Timur sent in 1399 to Sultan Faraj of Egypt was
seventy cubits long and had been calligraphed in golden letters by
his master scribe, Badruddin Muhammad Tabrizi, to whom also
seven Korans on thick Khanbaliq paper are ascribed 43 — three of
them in thuluth and four in naskh, with the basmala in Kufi and the
sha’n an-nuzul (the explanation of when and where the revelation
came) in riqd c and nhanf style.

One special feature of the chancellery scripts seems to be that they
contain many more ligatures than do the copyists' styles, A protocol
script of the caliph al-Muqtadir (r. 908-32) shows the lam and the
alif joining together, and in the later musalsal that was used in offi-
cial writing virtually all letters are closely connected with one an-
other. I bn Khaldun's remarks about the almost “secret" style of
chancellery writers shows that this development continued through
the centuries. 44 When Hafiz in the fourteenth century complains
that his beloved did not send him a letter made from the chain I ike
letters to catch the fluttering bird of his heart, he cleverly alludes to
a document in musalsal script; 45

A smaller script, ijdza, was derived from tauqt c and was commonly
used in Ottoman documents; it preserves the large loops between
the final letters and the alif of the definite article of the following
word, which is also found in the Turkish dlvdm style, where the
loops assume the shape of pointed ovals.

How well known the chancellery styles were in the Middle Ages is
attested by a line of the twelfth-century poet Khaqani, who claims:

I have bound the eye of greed and broken the teeth of avarice,
like a mim in the style of the calligrapher, like a sin in dwani script* 4 ®

The letter mim as used by calligraphers is “blind," that is, it has no
opening in the center, while the three teeth of the sin are straight-
ened out in chancellery style into a single line.

“Blind” mim sin “without teeth”

In the case of Ottoman divani the flow of the lines follows the
imperial tughrd, the decorative shape developed out of the handsign
of the emperor, which was already fairly well developed in the days
of Mehmet the Conqueror. 47 Hence the lines show a rising tendency
toward the left. A jail form of divani was sometimes used by Otto-
man calligraphers for decorative pages.

lane in divani script

The development of calligraphy inside and outside chancellery
use was facilitated by the introduction of paper, for papyrus with its
raw surface did not allow artistic writing. The hist book on paper
about which we know anything was written by 870* but there may
have been earlier examples. Scribes and calligraphers occupied an
important place in Islamic society* and more than one story in the
Arabian Nights tells of the importance of writing and of beautiful
writing with “erect alif } swelling and well-rounded wdiv.” 4S The
use of diacritical marks and* in many cases* of vowel signs became
more common* even though some sophisticated persons might ob-
ject to the use of these signs in private correspondence because it
would mean that the addressee was not intelligent enough to deci-
pher the message. 4 ' 1 But at the same time there was an awareness of
the danger of misreading important words, and the general feeling
was well expressed by the c Abbasid vizier c Ali ibn c Isa (d. 946) that
“writing provided with diacritical points is like an artistically de-
signed cloth/’ 50 Somewhat later* an Andalusian poet compared a
drummers stick in a musical performance to “a reed pen in the

The measurements of Arabic letters according to I bn ar-Rawandi,
Rabat as-sudur

■ R *■

hand of a litterateur who constantly marks dots when writing po-
etry/’ 51

Praise of beautiful script is common in the sources of the ninth
and tenth centuries. When Isma c il al-Katib saw a fine handwriting,
he exclaimed:

If it were a plant, it would be a rose;
if it were metal, it would be pure gold;
if it were something to taste, it would be sweet;
and if it were wine, it would be very pure. 52

One may here also think of the story of the first qalandar in the
Arabian Nights in which the monkey wins the king's heart by his el-
egant calligraphy in various styles and by his skillful poetical allu-
sions to writing. 55

But on the whole, the development of truly beautiful, well-mea-
sured script is connected with the name of I bn Muqla, a native of
Shiraz who served several times as vizier until he finally died in
prison or was killed in 940. Before that, his enemies had cut off his
right hand, the harshest punishment to be meted out to the undis-
puted master of calligraphy. His main contribution to the develop-
ment of the cursive hand was to relate the proportions of the letters
to that of the altf.* 4 The measurements were taken by rhomboid
points produced by the pen so that an alif would be, according to
the style, 5, 7, or 9 points high, a ba I point high and 5 points long,
and so on. This geometry of the letters, which was perfected by
explaining the relations among the parts of letters in circles and
semicircles, has remained binding for calligraphers to our day, and
the perfection of a script is judged according to the relation of the

Examples of measuring letters by using of rhomboid dots

letters to each other, not simply to their shape. Every lover of callig-
raphy would probably agree with Abu Hayyan at-Tauhidi's state-
ment: "I bn Muqla is a prophet in the field of handwriting; it was
poured upon his hand, even as it was revealed to the bees to make
their honey cells hexagonal/* 55 Thus, his name has become prover-
bial in Islamic lore and is mentioned not only by calligraphers but
by poets as well, almost all of whom continue to play on a pun the
Sahib Ibn c Abbad had invented shortly after the calligrapher-vizier's
death:

The writing of the vizier Ibn Muqla

is a garden for the heart and the eyeball {muqla)* 6

Or:

The script of Ibn Muqla! — He whose eyeball (muqla) regarded it
carefully,

Would wish that all his limbs were eyeballs! 57

Even in our century the Egyptian poet laureate Shauqi compared
the pillars of the Alhambra to written by Ibn Muqla.

The vizier, who continued to write skillfully even after his hand
had been amputated, taught his art to several followers, among them
his daughter, with whom c Ali ibn Hilal, known as Ibn al-Bawwab,
studied the art. 53 He added some more elegance to the strict rules
of Ibn Muqla, and the Koran that he wrote in the year 1000 (now
in the Chester Beatty Library) is a remarkable piece of writing, par-
ticularly the long swinging curves at the final round letters* One
wonders if some of the hundred Korans in the library of the Bu-
waybid vizier Ardashir ibn Sabur, which were written by the best
calligraphers, came from his pen, as one also wonders how great the
ratio between Kufi and cursive Korans in this famous library might
have been, (The vizier owned, besides the Korans, more than ten
thousand manuscripts, most of them autographs,) 60

When Ibn al-Bawwab, who was noted for his immensely long
beard, 61 “completed the letters of annihilation and traveled toward
the prac ticin g-hou se of eternity” 62 in 1032, no less than ash-Sharif
abMurtada wrote a threnody on him* During his lifetime he was

vi* i

• ,r

: v ■■

Bismillah in the handwriting of Ibn al-Baw%vab in tumdr script. From
Unver-Athari, I bn al-Bawwdh

famous in the Islamic world, for his younger contemporary, Abu' 1-
L Ala aLMa c arri, describes an evening in the verse:

The crescent (hilal) appeared like a nun, which has been written
beautifully

With golden ink by the calligrapher Ibn Hilal [i.e., Ibn al-
Bawwab], 63

nun in cursive script

and the highest praise one might bestow upon a book “like an or-
nated garden," in which content and form were equally attractive,
was that:

Its lines were written by the hand of Ibn Hilal
from the mouth of Ibn Hilal, 64

that is, Ibn Hilal as-Sabi, the famous stylist of the tenth century. A
few decades later, Sana’i in eastern Iran could describe outwardly
delightful but inwardly disgusting people as resembling

the nonsensical talk of Musaylima the Liar
in the script of Ibn Muqla and Bawwab. 65

Che school of ibn al-Bawwab w r as continued in Baghdad. Among
the masters of his style was a woman, Shuiida al-Katiba, from whom
the chain of transmission goes to the last of the great medieval cal-
ligraphers, Yaqut aI-Musta c simi (cl. 1298), a eunuch who had been
in the service of the last c Ahbasid caliph, whom he outlived by forty
years. To he sure, there were flourishing schools of calligraphy be-
fore him* as Ibn ar-Rawandfs remarks about the masters of his na-
tive K ash an prove for the time around 1200 — remarks supported
by the superb quality of some early calligraphies; 66 but to Yaqut a
new way of trimming the pen is attributed— a slight slant that makes
the thicker and thinner strokes more distinguishable and renders
the script more elegant. In later times, no greater praise could be
bestowed upon a calligrapher than to say that he was able to sell his

own writings for a piece of Yaqut. Among his doubtlessly numerous
disciples six are singled out, each of whom is credited with the de-
velopment of a particular style. From that time onward the sitta styles
remain exclusively in use for copyists’ and “calligraphers' ” pur-
poses. They are (I) naskh (connected with c Abdallah as-Sayrafi), (2)
muhaqqaq (connected with c Abdallah Arghun), (3 ) thuluth (connected
with Ahmad Tayyih Shah), (4) tauqf (connected with Muharakshah
Qutb), (5) rlhdnt (connected with Muharakshah Suyufi), and (6 )riqd c
(connected with Ahmad as-Suhrawardi). 67

With the introduction of these six basic styles, the multiplicity of
previous styles falls into oblivion, for it is amazing and somewhat
disquieting that Ibn an-Nadim's Fihmt , composed in the time be-
tween Ibn Muqla and Ibn al-Bawwab, enumerates no less than
twenty-four different cursive hands, among which some that were
to become very prominent later are not mentioned.® 8 It is consoling
that a writer who is almost contemporary with Ibn an-Nadim, Ibn
Wahb al-Katib, complains that even the scribes are no longer aware
of all the different styles of the good old days. 69

Among the aqldm as-silta the most impressive one is thiduth, which
belongs to the aqldm murattaba, the rounded, plump style, and is also

)

alif and wdw in a “round" style, such as thuluth

described as muqawwar (hollowed) or layyin (soft). It is written with a
broad pen; the alif begins with a light stroke at the right upper
angle and can have a slight curve at its lower left. Even in the Mid-
dle Ages it was compared to a man looking at his feet. Thuluth was
mainly used in epigraphy, less frequently in calligraphy except for
the sura headings of Korans. Some fine Korans in thuluth belong to
Marnluk Egypt; written in golden ink, the eyes of their letters are
sometimes filled with dark lapis Lazuli. 7 ® It seems that an art form
that later became a favorite with calligraphers was invented under
Timur. Sayyid c Abdul Qadir ibn c Abdul Wahhab wrote a Koran for
him in which the first, the central, and the last lines are in thuluth f
the rest in naskh. 71 This combination of two styles was then contin-
ued in Marnluk and Ottoman times, especially for decorative album

pages, Thuluth in its jolt form was predominantly used for the enor-
mous inscriptions with names of God and the Prophet or other re-
ligious formulas as they adorn Turkish mosques and have been aptly
described by Franz Rosenthal as “religious emotion frozen by art*” 72
l’lie other large script used in the Middle Ages is muhaqqaq ,
(meaning the "accurate, well- organized, ideal” script); according to
Tauhidi } the first condition for writing is tahqtq (attempting accu-
racy). 73 Like rihdni, which is its smaller relative, muhaqqaq has flat
endings terminating in sharp points. 74 It is therefore called a dry
(ydbis) script, in which the difference between the vertical letters and
the lower ones is very marked, alif being 9 points high (in thuluth
only 7). Alif has a small stroke at its upper right but under no cir-
cumstances swings out at the lower left; thus, the contrasts between

alif and waw in a "dry” script, such as muhaqqaq

the letters become more marked, Muhaqqaq was always a copyists’,
not a chancellery, script; and like the most common copyists' script,
the naskh, it is distinguished by the Id al-warrdqiyya f that is, a way of
writing 1dm and alif as a single, triangular letter.

y y_

Id al-warrdqiyya, the lam-alif as used by the copyists

Modern handbooks of calligraphy in Turkey claim that both mu-
kaqqaq and nhdnt are merely fiat variants of thuluth, and the style has
formerly rarely been observed by Western scholars, even though
allusions to it are abundant in poetry.

The true copyists 7 script is the small naskh, written with a fine pen
and with a straight alif without an initial stroke. Among the chan-
cellery styles its counterpart is riq c a> meant for small pieces of paper
and notes but not for significant documents. In both styles the alif
measures only 5 points. Even though riq c a was never a classical script,
the last biographer of Turkish calligraphers, Ibnul Emin Inal, de-
votes a whole chapter to the masters of this style who, as is to be

expected, were mainly high government officials. 75 Out of riq c a,
qirma, the “broken script/' developed; that was a kind of shorthand
used in the government for tax purposes and for other purposes
that were not supposed to become commonly known. 76

Naskh as an artistic form developed according to local taste. In
Iran it is rounded and very upright, with the letters extremely neatly
drawn , thus clearly contrasting with the normal slanting style of
writing in Iran. The last great master of naskh in Iran was Mirza
Ahmad Nayrizi in the early eighteenth century who wrote with a
very obliquely cut pen and whose Korans were highly prized. 77 From
Iran the round naskh reached India, where it is even stiff er, the
round endings of the letters being small and perfectly circular so
that a page may look very calm and sedate. However, the letters are
often too closely crammed together, and someone used to Turkish
naskh would find a Koran printed in Pakistani style difficult to ap-
preciate.

The Turks developed a naskh in which the fine, graceful letters
seem to walk swiftly toward the left. This style, whose foundation
was laid by Shaykh Hamduliah around 1500 and that was perfected
by his successor, Hafiz Osman, after seven generations, has become
a model of beauty. That is why the Turkish saying claims, Kuran
Mekke ye indi , Mlnrda okundu, Istanbul* da yazildi (“The Koran was
revealed in Mecca, was recited [properly] in Egypt, and was written
in Istanbul* 5 ).

Derived from naskh is ghubdr, the dust script, written with a min-
ute pen. Originally meant for pigeon post, it was Later used for dec-
orative purposes such as filling single letters with a whole text or
making up figures of human beings, animals, or flowers from pious
formulas. One can also write the basmala or the profession of faith in
ghubdr on a grain of rice. 7fi The first ghubdr Koran of which we know
was written for Timur by c Omar al-Aqta c , a calligrapher who did
not belong to the Yaqutian chain of transmission. The ruler, how-
ever, was not happy with a Koran that could be fitted under a signet
ring. He rebuked the calligrapher, who then wrote another copy of
the Holy Book, each page of which measured a cubit in length. Ti-
mur, finally impressed, handsomely rewarded the artist. 7 '*

The story may or may not be authentic, but it certainly shows the
predilection of late- fourteenth and fifteenth -century connoisseurs for

Korans of enormous sizes— suffice it to mention a Mamluk copy of
1 17 by 98 cm and the Koran written by Timur's grandson Baysun-
ghur, which measures 101 by 177 cm. To write Korans, or at least
their first and last pages, in gold was not unusual, as copies from all
parts of the Muslim world, f rom Morocco to India, prove. But non-
religious texts could also be lavishly decorated* particularly poetry
composed by kings* be it al-Mu Tam id's verse in the ninth century in
Baghdad 80 or the poetical works of the Deccani rulers Muhammad-
Quli Qutbshah and Ibrahim c Adilshah around 1600. S1

But the cursive hand did not remain restricted to chancellery or
copyist purposes. Shortly after the year 1000 one finds its first ex-
amples in architectural inscriptions, and in a comparatively short
time it replaced Kufi* or coexisted with it for a while until Kufi be-
came so highly involved that it had to be replaced by a more read-
able script, A typical example is the area of the Quwwat u IT slam
mosque and the Qutb Minar in Delhi (1236), where both styles are
used to a high degree of perfection. Two decades later, Konya is
another striking example* where the sophisticated Kufi of the Kar-
atay Medrese and the elegant tkuluth surrounding the gate of the
neighboring Ince Minardi Medrese are almost contemporary (1251
and 3 258, respectively). Such inscriptions show that tkuluth had in-
deed reached a high degree of refinement even before it was given
its final touch by Yaqut, and it is not astonishing that two genera-
tions later some of Yaqufs disciples excelled both in Koranic callig-
raphy and in the layout of huge architectural inscriptions. They used
to write the texts for the stonecutters or tilemakers; it is told of one
master that he “wrote Surat al-Kahf ♦ . . and the stonecutters repro-
duced it in relief * . . simply with baked bricks/' 82

Tkuluth remained the ideal style for epigraphy and was used on
virtually every material and everywhere. Muslim artisans seem to
have covered every conceivable object with writing* often with verses
or rhyming sentences* The Kitdh al-muwashshd, which offers a lively
picture of the life of the elegant upper class in Baghdad in the ninth
and tenth centuries * s:i quotes verses that were artistically written on
pillows and curtains, goblets and flasks, garments and headgear, belts
and kerchiefs, golden and silver vessels* as well as on porcelain.
Handsome slave girls had verses written in henna on their cheeks
and foreheads* as did writers with the reed pens that they used or

sent as gifts to friends. Mikrdbs (prayer-niches) in wood and marble
show every possible combination of script, and wood inlaid with
mother-of-pearl or ivory inscriptions has been found from India to
Spain. Glazed tiles with inscriptions scribbled around their borders
not only offer difficult specimens of the early “hanging" style but
sometimes preserve interesting pieces from Arabic or Persian liter-
ature, both poetry and prose; inscriptions inlaid in copper or brass
may offer either historical information or contain literary pieces in
which the vessel is imagined speaking about its destination. Many oi
them have a religious content (thus the Bidri ware from the Deccan
with strongly Shiite invocations), and mosque lamps in Syrian glass
supply us with the names of their donors or allude to the Prophet
who is sent as drajun munir (a shining light; Sura 33/40), or else to
the light- verse of the Koran (Sura 24/35)* The use of inscriptions on
glass and ceramics was so widespread that mock Arabic words are
found on some porcelain pieces produced in China for export to
Near Eastern countries. Many signs on vessels no longer yield any
meaning, for more and more the craftsman imitated traditional
models without understanding the letters, which therefore often
consist simply of remnants of repeated blessing formulas* Quite early
in history the Arabs seem to have used rugs with inscriptions or
letters on them; otherwise, the long deliberation put forth by the
fourteenth-century theologian as-Subki as to whether or not one was
allowed to tread upon such a rug would be meaningless.* 4
Cursive epigraphy reached its apex in the inscriptions on mosques
and minarets* The use of tiles enabled the artists to produce highly
intricate, radiant inscriptions of flawless beauty; here, Timurids and
Safavids found unsurpassable solutions. India, on the other hand,
can boast of some of the finest inscriptions carved out of marble or
laid in black into white marble, as in the Taj Mahal, where calligra-
phers and architects skilfully produced the illusion that all letters
are absolutely equal in size, despite the changing perspective*^ One
must also not forget the powerful stone inscriptions with a highly
decorative organization of the verticals in rhythmical parallelism, as
found in fifteenth-century Bengal or early seventeenth -century Bi~
japur,** an area whose contributions to the development of the art
of Arabic epigraphy is usually overlooked because art historians tend
to focus on the examples of Ottoman Turkish architecture that have

long since become the perfect embodiment of cursive epigraphy at
its best

Naskh and thuliith seem to embody the genius of the Arabic script
most perfectly, whereas the development of Arabic writing in the
Western part of the Muslim world, the Maghrib, is less attractive to
many. Even Ihn Khaldun, a Tunisian himself, did not approve of
the writing of his compatriots who had not participated in the re-
form of the cursive hand by I bn Muqla and his successors and who
lived in an area that, as he implies, was not really culturally ad-
vanced enough to equal Cairo with its numerous facilities where a
refined art like calligraphy would be sought and hence taught . 87 We
know, however, that there were also quite a number of scholars and
writers in the Maghrib who practiced calligraphy according to the
rules of the Raghdadian masters, which they apparently learned
while traveling to the East . 88 Inscriptions in the Alhambra as well as
on Spanish silks prove that for epigraphic purposes the traditional
thuluth was generally used.

The punctuation of Maghribi differs from that in the East in that
the/ has its dot beneath it and the q has only one dot The common
North African hand was apparently refined in Spain; the so-called
Andalusian script, with its dense succession of letters, impresses the
reader by its high degree of straightness.

It seems that in the Maghrib vellum remained in use for copies of
the Koran longer than in the East, and some Maghribi Korans
written in gold on fine vellum have a beauty of their own, evert
though they do not conform to the canon. Maghribi appears to the
spectator less logical than naskh , for the very wide opening of the
initial c ayn and the enormous endings of the letters, which are by no
means perfectly circular, look too irregular. Some later manuscripts
have buttonlike upper endings of the verticals, and the pages often
assume a spiderweblike character. The decoration in its strong col-
ors, however, is often strikingly attractive; the use of colored inks
for the vowel signs adds to the picturesque quality of the page. Ex-
amples from the works of the Moroccan master al-Qandusi from the
early nineteenth century, as shown in Khatibi and SijelmasFs book,
reveal the artistic possibilities of this style / 8

Maghribi was exported to western Africa, but both in Bornu and
in Kano (northern Nigeria) the letters are much heavier than in the

First page ol an Aljamiado manuscript, a sixteenth -century Spanish
text in Arabic letters in Maghrihi style. Only the initial basmala and
the blessings upon the Prophet are in Arabic. Courtesy Dr. Luce
Lopez- Barak, Puerto Rico

Maghrib proper: in Rornu they rather resemble oblique Kufic let-
ters, whereas in Kano they are very stiff. Besides, the normative
naskh style became more common in West Africa as soon as printed
religious books were imported from Egypt and other Middle East-
ern countries. 99

Most lovers ot Islamic calligraphy would bestow the highest praise
on the “hanging” style as developed in the Persianate world. A cer-
tain trend toward extending the letters to the lower left can be found
in early Persian manuscripts and on ceramics from the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries. This is a natural development, because the fre-
quently Occurring verbal endings -t f -si require a movement of
the pen from the upper right toward a long, swinging left ending.
The so-called taHiq was used, according to Qadi Ahmad, exclusively
for chancellery purposes. 91 That remained so even after Mir- c Ali of
Tabriz, called qudwat al-kuttdb (“the exemplary calligrapher”), 92 had
regulated the hanging style by shaping and measuring the letters
according to the rules developed for the Arabic cursive style. Leg-
ends tell that a dream of flying geese, interpreted for him by Hazrat
c Ali, inspired him to perfect the style so that he can be called, not
the inventor, but the first calligrapher of nastaHlq. The masters of

The “bird-like” shapes of some letters in nastaHiq

this style still teach their disciples to form certain letters like a bird's
wing or beak. Under the Timurid prince Baysunghur Mirza (d. 1433)
the hanging style became the true vehicle for Persian texts, and it is
said that all his forty court calligraphers were Mir- c Ali Tabriz fs dis-
ciples. Mir- G Alfs son, "Abdullah Shakarin-Qalam, perfected his fa-
ther's work, and his style remained so predominant that attempts by
some other calligraphers, namely Maukma c Abdur-Rahman Khwar-
izmi and his two sons, to develop a style of their own is harshly
criticized by some Oriental sources. 93

NastaHiq, the “bride of the Islamic styles of writing,” 94 is certainly

a n ideal vehicle for poetical texts, and the combination of fine po-
etry written in elegant nastaHiq and decorated with artistic borders
is doubtlessly one of the greatest achievements of Muslim artists.
Toward the end of the fifteenth century, pages with pious sayings
or with pithy quatrains were as popular as were small oblong safinas,
anthologies in which poems were written in minute elegant nastaHiq.
The greatest masters of this style are connected with eastern Iran*
Sultan- c All Mashhadi (d. 924/1519), the Sultan al-KhattMn, (King of
Calligraphers) produced during a lifetime of some eighty years an
enormous number ol books, many of which are extant, but he was
surpassed in elegance by Mir- c Ali Haravi, examples of whose hand
are found in most libraries and museums. It is said that Mir- c Ali
was asked about the difference between Sultan- c Ali’s and his own
writing and answered, “I have brought it to perfection, but his writ-
ing has a special flavor. 5 ' 95 The two masters are in a certain way
comparable to Ibn Muqla and Ibn al-Bawwab; 9e but to some poets
Ibn al-Bawwab compared to them appeared “like a doorkeeper with
his stick in his hand.’ 797

After the dispersion of the Timurid rule in Herat, different
schools oi' nastaHiq developed in Safavid Iran, where the outstanding
master is Mir-Tmad, whose pedigree goes back to Mir- C A!L 9 * Before
Mir-Tmad, the name of Mahmud Nishapuri outshines calligraphers
of the first half of the sixteenth century in Iran, He was die favorite
of Shah Tahmasp, for whom he wrote a Koran in nastaHiq in 1538;
it is one of the very few specimens of a whole Koran in the hanging
style, which is not aesthetically well suited to Arabic. An Indian poet
says in the seventeenth century:

The condition of love is not elegant beauty,

just like a Koran in nastaHiq,

This means that what matters is the content more than the form.
Another fragment of a Koran in nastaHiq was written for Shah Tah-
masp by the librarian of Bahrain Mirza, the calligrapher, painter,
and historian Dost-Muhammad. 190

From Iran the hanging style was adapted in those countries where
Persian culture prevailed, namely in India, where many masters of
this style migrated in the latter days of Shah I ahmasp and during

the heyday of the Moghul Empire and in Ottoman Turkey. Turkish
taHiq tends to a slightly wider opening of the final semicircles of the
rounded letters, whereas Indian taHiq, like Indian naskh, often has
rather tightly closed, perfectly circular endings.

Out of taHiq developed skikasta, the “broken script/ 1 which was
apparently in the beginning mainly used in the chancelleries and
was molded into a more elegant form by Shah c a of Herat (d. 1676),
whose writing looked “like the tresses of a bride." 101 c Abdut-Majid
of Taliqan (d. 1185/1773) brought it to perfection. 102 It seems more
than an accident that this style developed at exactly the same time
when the word shihast (broken) became one of the key words of Per-
sian poetry in India, Pages with skikasta , their lines thrown, as it
were, over the page without apparent order, are often reminiscent
of modern graphics rather than of legible script, and thus the aes-
thetic result of the most sacred, hieratic script, the early Koranic
Kufi, and that of the extreme profane, poetical script are quite sim-
ilar: one admires them without trying to decipher them. The poets
then would claim that they wrote their letters in khatt-i skikasta in
order to express their broken hearts’ hopeless state ; 10 A and one
wonders whether Bedil, the most famous representative of the in-
volved Indian style in poetry, had in mind a page of skikasta, with
its lines crossing each other, when he exclaimed;

The back and the face of the plate of your understanding are Is-
lam and infidelity:

Out of nearsightedness have you made the lines of the Koran into
a cross! 104

There are some peculiar developments of the Arabic script in the
eastern part of the Islamic world* Among them is the so-called Bi-
hari style, which was used in India mainly in the fifteenth century.
The rules of I bn Muqla were either unknown to, or neglected by,
its calligraphers; in fact, its slowly thickening low r er endings and the
flat sad are reminiscent of Maghribi, and, as in that style, the deco-
ration in colorful inks can render a good Bihar i manuscript quite
beautiful* 105 Again, in the Central Asian areas, influences of Mon-
golian and Chinese writing are palpable; and certain Korans, in
which the long endings are strangely stacked, would deserve more

intense study. It seems that some of these texts were written w T ith a
brush instead of with a reedpen; but more research has to be done
in this field.

Out of the basic styles of Arabic writing a great number of deriv-
atives developed and are stili in use. The long verticals that are so
predominant in Arabic especially invited the calligraphers to invent
fascinating calligraphic fences on album pages, a technique that
probably grew out of the headings of princely documents and that
were apparently particularly common in India . 10 * 5 Playful inventions
were not lacking either: while the use of animated letters on metal

Zoornorphic letters: sin and yd\ from a bronze pen-case. After Herz-

vessels in the eleventh and twelfth centuries is well attested, the
Herati master Majnun is also credited with inventing a script of hu-
man and animal figures of which, unfortunately, no trace has yet
come to light 1 ** 7 Mirror script, used first for seal cutting, developed
into a special art; some of the greatest Turkish calligraphers have
elaborated highly sophisticated mirrored inscriptions for mosques
and mausoleums , 108

The khatt-i ndkhun , in which the script is engraved with the finger-
nail into the backside of the paper, was invented, or made popular,
in the sixteenth century by Nizamuddin Bukhari, whose talent was
praised in a poem by the Safavid prince Bahrain Mirza; it is still
known to one or two artists in Pakistan. loa

It goes without saying that in the long history of Islamic calligra-
phy various attempts have been made to introduce new shapes—
“sharpening the teeth of the sin”; adding little flourishes to the let-
ters; and creating styles poetically called “bride’s tresses,” "peacock
script,” “flame script,” “crescent script," and so on — but none ot these
had a major bearing on the development of calligraphy proper, and
historians mention such innovations with great disapproval. Thus,
even the calligraphic paintings of the Pakistani artist Sadiqaih, inter-
esting as they may look as an attempt to write the Koran in a picto-

feld

rial style, are frowned upon by professional calligraphers, since his
letters do not follow the classical rules.

For the lover of calligraphy* however, it is fascinating to observe
that throughout the Islamic world a new interest in calligraphy as
such as well as in calligraphic painting has occurred recently— a trend
that stretches from Morocco to Pakistan, with leading representa-
tives also in Egypt and Iraq. 110 This new interest in calligraphy, from
whatever angle it he, shows that the Muslims are very much aware
that the Arabic letters — the letters of the Koran — are their most
precious heirloom, and everyone will probably agree with Qadi Ah-
mad who, well aware of the fact that most of his compatriots were
illiterate, wrote: v If someone* whether he can read or not, sees good
writing, he likes to enjoy the sight of it*” 111

Kufic kaf from a Koran, Iran, ea. twelfth century. While other known
pages of this Koran are written in normal Eastern Kufi, the Surat
al-ikhlas (Sura 112), which contains the profession of God’s absolute
Unity, is written in highly complicated Kufi reminiscent of stucco
decorati ons, and so is the name of the Prophet Muhammad

A Scribe. Moghul, India, ca. 1625.

Anonym Dus Private Collection, courtesy of
the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University.

10 by 7.1

Page from a Maghribi Koran, gold on vellum.

Courtesy John Ry lands Library, Manchester, Ms. Arabic 691, fob 87 b

Arabic prayers, written in naskh by Ahmad an-Nayrizi,
colors and gold on parchment, dated 1137/1724,

The Metropolitan Museum oi Art, Rogers Fund, 1962

Beginning of Jami’s poem on the secrets of rite
letters of i he basmala in nasiaHiq, chapter
heading in late decorative Kufi
Ca. 1500, probably H erat

T he Metropolitan Museum of Art,

Purchase, 1952.

Joseph Pulitzer Bequest

Calligraphers,
Dervishes,
and Kings

When you want ihe goal of your striving to flourish, turn not away from the
teacher, Teach your son writing, and teach it to your family and your relatives
. . . , for writing brings to you tile best of luck and raises to the throne him
who is not [otherwise] qualified: it is a craft, blessed among the crafts, and by
it the lowly are able to rise. 1

Thus states Ibn ar-Rawandi in the late twelfth century, and three
hundred years before him the prototype of learned secretaries, Ibn
al-Muqaffa c , had formulated the maxim: “The script, khatt, is
adornment for the prince, perfection for the wealthy, and wealth
for the poor/' “

Indeed, the art of writing is an essential part of the entire culture
of the Muslim world. It was of course of enormous importance for
preserving the text of the Holy Book, The sentences of the Prophet

ot\ in later times, the sayings of some of the saints could fill the
house of the owner of a fine piece of religious calligraphy with bar-
aka, Handwriting was also considered as legal proof for the identi-
fication of individuals, as the jurists maintained; 3 and, as in the West,
much could be learned about the education and cultural back-
ground of a person merely by looking at his handwriting. That is
still so even in remote areas such as West Africa. 4 Popular stories
also, not only the Arabian Nights, show the high appreciation of cal-
ligraphy even among the illiterate: the famous Turkish master Hafiz
Osman had once forgotten his purse and, returning from Istanbul
to Uskudar, paid the ferryman with an artistically written waw*

Even though a Muslim of the middle or upper class would receive
a general education in the basics of decent writing, it took much
more to be rightly called a khaffdf (calligrapher), A look at the ca-
reers, family backgrounds, and even some of the idiosyncrasies of
calligraphers reveals some interesting facets of Muslim culture. Cer-
tainly there were many of whom one could say that “by walking in
the valley of calligraphy he became noted and famed,” a formula
applicable to ministers and poets, theologians and members of the
nobility, for all ol whom good handwriting, or at least enough
knowledge to appreciate calligraphy, was as much part and parcel of
their education as was a knowledge of the Koran and the art of
versification. However, in order to be called a khattdt, long study
with a master was required until one graduated by receiving the
ijdza (permission), which gave the calligrapher the right to sign his
products with his own name {or, in some cases, with a nickname
given by the master) by writing haiabahu fuldn (written by so-and-
so)/

1 he rules that had to be obeyed in this process resemble in the
main those by which the medieval Muslim studied poetry and music,
or was introduced into Sufism. As in Sufism, a silsila, a spiritual chain,
was absolutely necessary to connect the discipline through genera-
tions of masters with the founder or with the most famed writer of
his particular style. In the held of naskk and its derivatives for the
earlier period, that would be Yaqut; in Turkey, Shaykh Hamdullah
of Arnasia and Hafiz Osman for the last three centuries. In the
nastaHlq tradition the silsila would go back to Mir- c Ali of Tabriz,

Sultan- c Ali of Mashhad (ca* 1442-1519) and Mir- r: A I i al-Katib (d.
1556), in later times to Mir- c Imad (killed 1615). The imitation of
models written by these masters was an important part of instruc-
tion: thus, one finds pages with the inscription Mh- c Ali al-kdtib naq-
alaku fulan (transferred by so-and-so). 8

For the earlier centuries we are faced with a lack of reliable data
because the biographers— especially those more remote in time —
tended to bring the masters in as close a sequence as possible, or to
connect them with other important historical personalities* This is
particularly evident in the case of Yaqut, who is credited with having
received a handsome reward from the king of Delhi, Muhammad
Tughluq (d. 1351), for a copy of Avicenna’s Shifd\ and who is said
to have been admired by the Sufi master c Abdul-Qadir Gilani (d,
1 166). This would give him a life span of some two hundred years/ 1
he future calligrapher needed certain psychological characteris-
tics: he should be “of sweet character and of an unassuming dispo-
sition,” as one of the earliest handbooks says, 10 Since writing was in
many cases the writing of sacred words, the calligrapher “should not
be unclean for a single hour,” 11 as Sultan- c Ali admonished the adept
in his rhymed epistle Sirdt as-sutur (or Sirdt al-kkaff ), which was once
copied by the leading master of nastaHiq, Mir J= I mad. 12 I have met
calligraphers or girls who embroidered the golden texts on tomb-
cloths, who performed gkusl, the major ritual ablution, every morn-
ing before going to work. And if they did not go that far, they at
least had to renew their wudu* time and again. For “purity of writing
is purity of the soul,” 13 and this is reflected in external purity as
well; to write the Koran in a worthy style was always the highest goal
for a calligrapher, and it can be touched or recited only in the state
of ritual purity (Sura 56/79).

The person interested in calligraphy had to find a master to in-
struct him, individually or in a small group, letter by letter. 14 It was
by such constant rehearsing of single letters that the script in the
eastern part of the Muslim world assumed such beauty, while in the
Maghrib the scribes immediately began to write whole words and
therefore never came close to the elegance of the eastern styles, as
I bn Khaldun (himself a Tunisian) deplored, 15 The pupil then had
to spend all day practicing, as Mir- c Ali says:

Forty years of my life were spent in calligraphy;

The tip of calligraphy’s tresses did not easily come in my hand.

If one sits leisurely for a moment without practicing,

Calligraphy goes from his hand like the color of henna , 16

It is said that Hafiz Osman used even the moments of rest during
the long and arduous pilgrimage to fill sheets of paper with his mashq
(practice ), 17 faithful to the advice, “Either trim your pen or write
something!" ia When the Persian master known as Rashida had to
go into hiding after his unde Mir- C I mad had been assassinated, he
ran out of paper, finally he went to another calligrapher and com-
plained that he was forgetting the rules of writing . 19 One therefore
understands an eighteenth-century calligrapher from Lahore who
sadly stated:

Like a narcissus I appeared from Not-Being,
the reed of the pen in my waistband. . . .

Due to sleeplessness the marrow of my soul

dried up in my bones like the stem of the reed . 20

Under the master's guidance the pupil learned how to sit prop-
erly, usually squatting, but also sitting on his heels; the paper should
rest on his left hand or on the knee 21 so that it is slightly flexible,
because the round endings can be written more easily in this way
than if the paper is put on a hard desk or low table, as had to be
done for large pieces. Then he learned the measurements of the
letters by the dots and circles introduced by I bn Muqla and had to
practice irsal, that is, the swinging of the long ends, while the letters
that are called in Persian damanddr (with a train), which means the
round endings of n, s, y i and so on 22 should look “as if they were
woven on the same loom, 5 ' since they must be absolutely equal in
size .* 3 (The comparison of calligraphy to something woven or em-
broidered occurs frequently in early Arabic texts .) 24

“At daytimes one should practice the small hand, kkajl , in the eve-
ning the large one, jalf” says Sultan- c Ali of Mashhad , 25 who also
enumerates the requirements for calligraphers as being “ink as black
as the author's fortune [or, rather, “misfortune,” bakht-i siydh] f a pen

which is as restless as the eyes that shed tears, and a spirit as elegant
as the khatt, ‘down/script’ of a beautiful friend / 1

Sultan- G Alfs younger compatriot, Mir- c Ali, puts it less poetically
hut more practically: the calligrapher needs five things — a fine tem-
perament, understanding of calligraphy, a good hand, endurance
of pain, and the necessary utensils:

And if any of these five is missing,

then it will be of no use even if you strive for a hundred years . 26

As can be gathered from such remarks* a sound knowledge of writ-
ing implements was required. The pen was of course the most im-
portant utensil for the calligrapher* the instrument that as an early
Arab writer says, “introduces the daughters of the brain into the
bridal chambers of books /’ 27 The classical handbooks devote long
chapters to the art of clipping and trimming the reed pen . 28 The
pens of highest quality came From Wasit and Shiraz, later also from
Amul and Egypt . 23 Fens — “cypresses in the garden of

knowledge’' 30 — were often used as presents for viziers and scribes,
accompanied by verses that, according to the elegant Baghdadian
style* might describe the beauty of the scribe who w r as to use them 31
or might contain unusual comparisons to praise the miraculous thing,
“whose weight is light, and whose importance is heavy* and whose
use is immense /' 32

Such pens belonged to the items treasured even in the palaces of
the kings: the Fatimid caliph al-Mustansir had boxes filled with all
kinds of pens, among them some that had been used by Ibn Muqla
and Ibn a)~Bawwab . 33 And a pen found at a noted calligrapher's
tomb might induce a young man to turn to the art of writing / 14
In rare cases, the calligrapher might use a very fine steel pen or a
quill, but these are exceptions that the biographers note down care-
fully / 15 In early manuscripts from India and — as far as one can see —
from Central Asia* the calligraphy w r as executed with a brush / 16
Since the style of writing depends largely on the angle at which
the pen is cut and the ratio between the two sides of the skaqq, the
incision made in the middle of the pen’s end, every master had his
special way of trimming his pen / 17 The penknife was often beauti-

fully ornamented, especially in Ottoman Turkey, and was cherished
by the masters, although it is, as a tenth-century poet claims, “angry
with the pen and hurts it." 38 The cutting was done on a small plate
of ivory or tortoise shell or similar hard, polishable material, which
was at the most 10 cm long and 3 cm broad, 39

Once the pen was properly trimmed, the calligrapher had to turn
to the preparation of the ink, and many masters have left recipes
for ink that does not fade. Methods differ considerably. In Istanbul
some calligraphers would carefully collect the lampblack that cov-
ered the oil lamps in the Siileymaniye mosque and settled in certain
corners of its walls; thus* not only was the raw material for their ink
of good quality, but it. also carried the baraka of the mosque with
it 40 After mixing the soot with the other ingredients, the ink was
put* in small quantities, into the dawdt, the inkwell, an item that has
inspired Arabic, Persian, and Turkish poets for about a thousand
years. 41 Precious inkstands, often inlaid with gold or silver, square
or round* of metal or precious wood (later also of porcelain), were
used as gilts, 42 Thus, 1 bn ar-Rumi in the late ninth century says in
a verse about a dawdt made of ebony with gold inlay that he pre-
sented to someone;

We send you the mother of wishes

and of gifts: a negro woman of noble descent,
who has decorated herself with yellow* for the negro
likes to wear yellow dresses, 43

And seven centuries later, a Turkish writer inscribed on a box with
three inkwells that contained various colors that they represented
“my heart's blood, the smoke of my heart* and my black fortune .” 44
The calligrapher would sometimes hang the inkwell over his left
arm so that it was “swinging like earrings at the neck." 45 In later
times combined pencases and inkwells, made of metal and often
decorated with verses such as the ones just quoted* came into more
common use. The inkwell was certainly as important in the field of
calligraphy “as a king on his throne"; 48 and it could be described as
“the navel of the Khotanese musk deer," 47 not only because its con-
tents were black as musk* but also because it was recommended,
from the days of al-Ahwal in the early ninth century, to put some

perfume into the Itqa (Le., the piece of cotton or raw silk that is
placed in the inkwell to prevent the ink from flowing too abun-
dantly), Alluding to the Itqa, a seventeenth-century poet could say:

In the ears of those with dark hearts there is a piece of cotton
[consisting] of words,
as if they had put a liqa in the inkstand. 48

In this connection, a very strange story is told about Ibn al-Lu c aybiya,
one of the leading masters in the late twelfth century, who was un-
equaled in his art in Egypt* He was writing a copy of the Koran for
Sultan Salad in on a cold, cloudy day and, so he tells:

Before me there was a brazier with fire in it; the Uqa in the
inkstand had become hard, and I had no water close at hand so
that I could have put it into it* But there was a flask of wine
before me, and I poured some of it into the inkwell* Then I
wrote with it one page of the Koran copy and warmed it on the
brazier so that it might dry up. And a spark sprang up and
burned the w r ritten script completely without leaving anything
of the paper* I was frightened, got up and washed the inkwell
and the pens, put new ink into it, and asked God for forgive-
ness. 49

As a sidelight on the importance of the dawat, one may mention
that already in early Persian poetry the connection between dawdt
and dawlat (fortune) was made, a connection that is achieved by add-
ing a minute stroke to the alif of dawdt f which changes it into a lam . 50

"The inkstand is one- third of the writing, the pen, one-third, and
the hand, one-third,” says a tenth-century handbook for secre-
taries. 51 But after preparing the pens and the ink, the paper too
had to be specially treated. Paper manufacturing was introduced
into the Arab world after 751, and paper was one of the main rea-
sons for the development of ornamental cursive handwriting* In
early days* paper from Samarqand and Syria was considered to be
outstanding, 52 but later one finds a large variety of places with pap-
ermills, some of which w r ere in India (Daulatabadi, Adilshahi, and
Nizamshahi paper are mentioned in the fifteenth century). 53 China

provided silk paper, which was used in Timur’s days for both doc-
uments and Korans . 54 But all papers, whatever their quality, were
made from rags. Khaqani, in the mid-twelfth century, skillfully al-
ludes to the two most exquisite ingredients for royal chancelleries
when he claims, in a panegyric poem, for the “Shah of the two Iraqs”
for his document (tauqt Q );

the morning is Syrian [shdmi, which also means “evening*’] paper,
and the meteor an Egyptian pen . 55

After selecting the right quality of paper, the calligrapher had to
cover it carefully with dhar t a mixture of rice powder, starch, quince
kernels, along with egg white and other ingredients; this mixture
was then pressed until it was incorporated into the paper, to which
it gave a smooth, shiny surface on which the pen could glide easily . 56
Thus, when Kalim sings about a sharp sword;

When the paper receives a letter from the description of the
sword, paper and dhar fall apart ! 57

he certainly reaches the height of hyperbole.

The next step was to burnish the paper with a piece of stone,
preferably an agate, to remove all unevenness from it; and finally,
the calligrapher put the mastar between two sheets of paper. The
mastar consists of fine silken threads fixed on a frame of cardboard
and serves as a ruler, Two pages at a time can be marked with del-
icate lines . 5 s

In case the calligrapher wanted to create a special arrangement of
words in so-called tughrd shape, he would draw a model that was
then fixed on the paper with fine needles, thus producing sequences
of dots through which coal dust was usually rubbed for fine outlines,
along which the figure could then be executed. The same process
was used for large architectural inscriptions, some models of which
were preserved for a long time . 59

After this preliminary work, the calligrapher might begin to write
a sacred sentence or a beautiful poem. But until he reached this
point, he had to fill page after page or wooden slate after slate with
mashq (practice), which had to be washed off again and again, (Ori-
ental ink is soluble in water). Only the exercise sheets of the great

masters were later kept as works of art in themselves. The washing
off of the books provided the poets with a number of metaphors, as
Fani of Kashmir says about the “book of life”:

The child “tear” saw so many manuscripts and washed them off,
and yet, due to its confusion, it did not become acquainted
with the book. 60

To grade a pupil’s progress in the art, the pupil might receive
first the degree of sawwadaku (he sketched it) and somewiiat later be

Mastar, ruler of cardboard with silken threads. The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, gift of H. P + Kraus, 1973

permitted to sign with mashaqahu (he practiced it) — at least, that
was the custom in Turkey. 01

Even the most accomplished calligrapher would sometimes delete
pages from his writings in case the calligraphy was not absolutely
flawless; such pages (called mukhraj, “taken out”) were again col-
lected by the master’s admirers and sometimes made into an album,
as in the case of Hafiz Osman.

While practicing, the calligrapher was not supposed to lift any-
thing heavy in order to protect his hands. 62 One is therefore sur-
prised to find that a master like Shaykh Hamdullah (d. 1519) was
an excellent sportsman: not only was he a good swimmer who some-
times swam the Bosporus, carrying his writing implements between
his teeth, but he excelled in archery. 63 Perhaps his absolute concen-
tration on the target w T as a spiritual exercise, strengthening both his
eye and his mind, for this truly mystical concentration is at the heart
of calligraphy, as of every true art. Typical of this attitude is the
story of the calligrapher in Tabriz who did not even notice the ter-
rible earthquake in the city because he, sitting in a little basement,
was so engrossed in producing a flawless iodw. 6i

After finishing the calligraphy of a document, but not of a book
or poem, the scribe was supposed to put some sand on it, which was
considered auspicious. 65

As in all traditional Islamic sciences, the disciple could finally re-
ceive his ijdza } GB that is, “he attained the highest rank by the permis-
sion to sign with katabahu” (he wrote it). 67 My own teacher in nasiaHiq

Signature — katabaku — of I bn Hilal I bn al-Bawwab, 408/1017-8. After
Unver-Athari, I bn al-Bawwab

said, “By imitating a piece by Mir- c Imad, 1 received my icazetname to
write my name and to teach.” 68 It was also possible to receive an
ijdza iabanrukan (for the sake of blessing) from a master whom one

venerated but with whom one had not studied, alter having gained
a formal ijdza from a first master* 69 The Sufi practice of receiving
the patched frock from one's own master, the skaykk at-tarbiya } and
then sometimes adding to it the kkirqa-i tabarruk from another mas-
ter immediately comes to mind.

The ijdza could have a caveat or put some stipulations on the
recipient, as in a document of 1198/1775 where the teacher writes:

Under the condition that he not divide a single word to write it
on two lines, and that he always write the formula "God bless
him and give him peace" after mentioning the noble name of
the Prophet, and that he not place himself haughtily above his
colleagues, I give him permission to write the kataba . 70

It seems that xh&Jtataba for a calligrapher could be restr icted to cer-
tain kinds of writing (e.g., decorative pages, kilyas, or books), but it
could also be valid for every kind of calligraphy in the special style
that the newly graduated calligrapher would write. Thus, tomb-
stones are signed as early as in eighth-century Egypt and also much
later in Istanbul or Thatta; the kataba gives important information
about the artists who sketched and executed them. 71

Since the ijdza was rarely granted, the friends of the graduating
calligrapher sometimes composed poetical chronograms for this fes-
tive day and praised his skill in drawing an alif “which resembles the
beloved’s cypress- like stature, with which all other letters are iti
love," 72 and so forth.

If a master was very satisfied with his disciple’s work, he would
put his own kataba on it now and then. As generous as Mir- c Ali
seems to have been with his kataba (which may explain the enormous
number of pieces bearing his signature), he was quite disappointed
when his disciple Mahmud Shihabi Siyawushani imitated his writing
so well that, without his permission, he even signed his writings with
the master's name; he retorted to Mir- C All’s line:

Whatever he writes, good or bad, he ascribes to me,

with the remark, "I sign in his name only the bad ones!” — which is
rightly called by his modern-day biographer, Mehdi Bayani, an "ut-
most breach of etiquette*" 7a

The relation between master and disciple was, in a certain sense,
similar to the dose, loving relationship between a Sufi pit (spiritual
guide) and his murid (disciple) (as was indeed the case with Mir-
c Imad and his favorite, Mirza Abu Turab). 7_i Thus, speaking against
the master or annoying him could cause heavenly punishment; when
a disciple of Shaykh Hamdullah claimed to write better than his
teacher, this disciple soon happened to cut two of his fingers with a
penknife, and the wound did not heal for a whole year , 75 while Mir-
c All's anger about a preposterous disciple resulted in the unlucky
man’s becoming blind shortly thereafter . 76

As in other arts and crafts, the future calligrapher usually began
his training early. Mir-Tmad began at the age of eight; others at
nine or so; and some particularly gifted calligraphers received their
ijdza at the age of thirteen, seventeen, or eighteen. The normal age
range, however, seems to have been in the twenties. That the disci-
pline was hard is evident from Mustaqimzade’s frequent allusions to
“studying under the master’s rod ,” 77 as in the Turkish verse that
compares calligraphy to dermr lehlebi (iron chickpeas), “but in the
master’s mouth the iron turns into wax .” 76 Again, as in other arts
and crafts, particularly music, calligraphy was connected with cer-
tain families. Even in early centuries the scribes of the diwan appar-
ently inherited both their skills and their offices through genera-
tions, as was the case, for instance, of the I bn Wahb family . 79 In I bn
Muqla’s case, too, his father and brother were noted calligraphers.
A look at the biographies suffices to prove that families of calligra-
phers remained prominent for generations, and not rarely a partic-
ularly gifted disciple was married to the master’s daughter to con-
tinue the family profession. This was true in Turkey and Iran as
well as in Sind, and was probably so in other countries also.

This family lineage also accounts for the fact that one finds a con-
siderable number of women in the calligraphic tradition. In the
Prophet’s time there were women skilled in writing, including one
of Muhammad’s wives, and later slave-girl scribes sometimes achieved
important positions despite reservations voiced by the orthodox. su
Hie poets of medieval Baghdad enjoyed describing the charming
girl scribe whose ink looked like her hair, whose complexion was as
white and soft as her paper, whose eyelashes resembled pens . 61 But
the role of the women calligraphers was more important than such

little verses would lead us to believe. One of the leading calligra-
phers in the Middle Ages, who formed a link between I bn al-Bawwab
and Yaqut, was Zaynab Shuhda al-katiba (d, 574/1178). Mir- c I mad’s
daughter Gauharshad was a noted calligrapher; and if emperors are
celebrated as good masters of the craft, princesses did not lag be-
hind. Foremost are the names of Shah Isma c ifs daughter 82 and Au-
rangzeb’s gifted daughter, Zebunnisa, who not only practiced three
styles of calligraphy but was a patroness of poets, scholars, and cal-
ligraphers.^ The Lady Malika Jahan, whose copy of the Koran in
unusually bold, colorful letters is preserved in the Chester Beatty
Library, may be the accomplished wife of Sultan Ibrahim II c Adil-
shah of Bijapur (r. 1580—1626), although an attribution of this Ko-
ran to a later period seems more likely. 84 In the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries a number of Turkish women are known to have
written so well that their writings still adorn mosques and tekkes in
Istanbul. One of them received her ijaza before reaching puberty in
1169/1756 and produced a model book of calligraphy at the age of
twelve. Her ijdza by the well-known master Mehmet Rasim Efendi is
an interesting piece of Arabic literature. 85 The biographies of some
of the women calligraphers reveal once more the dose relationship
between calligraphy and religion. One of these women, separated
from her rich, illiterate husband, devoted herself to writing kilyas,
descriptions of the Prophet, and considered the nine hilyas she had
produced as a substitute for children, hoping that they would in-
tercede for her on Doomsday. 88 Another young widow joined a Sufi
order and excelled in copying Korans,* 7

Here again an important aspect of the calligraphic tradition be-
comes evident: many masters — apparently almost every famous cal-
ligrapher in Ottoman Turkey— were in one way or the other con-
nected w T ith a Sufi order. Even in earlier Persian sources one can
read that this or that master led a dervishlike life or walked around
in a felt gown like a Sufi. Yaqufs famous disciple, Yahya as-Sufi,
bore his surname with full right, 88 as did Fir c Ali as-Sufi. Nearly a
century before as this latter master, the great theoretician of the
school of Ibn c Arabi, c Abdul- Karim al-jlli (d. ca, 1408), was praised
for his most elegant handwriting. 89 One also has to remember that
more than one pioneer in the field of calligraphy was guided by a
dream appearance of Hazrat c Ali (thus Mir- c Ali of Tabriz) or of

Khidr (Sultan- c Ali of Mashhad, Shaykh Hamdullah) who indi-
cated to them the direction in which to develop their style.

In Turkey the development of calligraphy is particularly con-
nected with the Mevlevi order, which played such an important role
in the growth of music and poetry in the Ottoman Empire. 111 How-
ever, one finds members of almost all the other orders, including
the Naqshbandiyya, some of whose members excelled as calligra-
phers in Timurid Herat as well as in Ottoman Turkey. 92 Musta-
qimzade, himself a devout Naqshhandi, of course highlights the
contributions of his order to the development of calligraphy. The
Sha c baniyya, Qadiriyya, Sunbuliyya, Khalvatiyya, and Jalvatiyya are
all represented in the biographies; * 3 and, whether the calligrapher
was a full member of, or only loosely affiliated with the order, as is
so often the case with Muslim fraternities, his inspiration certainly
came from these religious centers* Sufi tendencies manifested them-
selves in the large number of fine invocations of Sufi saints, usually
in tughrd shape, and in calligraphic pictures with religious content.
The painter-calligraphers of the Bektashi order must be especially
mentioned in this connection* The last great master of thuluth and
naskh in Turkey, c Aziz Rifa c i from Trabzon (1872-1934), became a
follower of the well-known spiritual leader Kenan Rifa c i in 1907;
after World War I he was invited to Egypt by King Fuad, for whom
he wrote a Koran in six months. Staying in Egypt during the heyday
of Kemal Atatiirk's reforms, he became the true reviver of the mod-
ern Egyptian school of classical calligraphy. 94

Just as the Sufi tradition seems to be an almost integral part of
the life of calligraphers, many of them were also poets . ^ i he great-
est masters indulged in rhyming exercises to teach their disciples
some secrets of the craft, as it became popular from I bn al-Bawwab’s
time onward* 96 The most famous examples in the Persian tradition
are the instructive verses by Sultan- c Ali, 97 Mir- : Ali, 98 and their com-
patriot and contemporary, Majnun of Herat" To be sure, what they
produced was not great poetry but practical verse. Sometimes their
lines reflect a state of disappointment or unhappiness* When a Per-
sian calligrapher of the late seventeenth century describes how, “Out
of love for the script he wanted to take to his bosom the young bride
of 'Hope' * * ” and finally discovered

that in this field of deprivation

nobody can open the knot of fortune with the strength of [his]
craft, 100

he takes up an idea that had been commonplace with writers from
early times onward* Thus complained the Arabic poet c Abdullah ibn
Sarah (d, 515/1 121);

As for writing books, it is the most troublesome profession;

Its leaves and fruits are deprivation.

He who practices it is comparable to the owner of a needle
Which clothes others while its own body remains naked* 101

c: Ali Efendf author of the Mandqib-i hwiarvaran, quotes an Arabic
verse that was apparently popular enough to be engraved on at least
one inkwell: 102

Don't think that writing had made me happy,

and there was no generosity of the hand of Hatim at-Ta’i.

I need only one thing,

namely the shifting of the dot from the kh to the?. 10 *

That means that, instead of khati (script), he needs kazz (for-
tune). This pun was used six hundred years before him by Kuslia-
jim, scribe and poet at the Hamdanid court in Aleppo, who says
about himself that he

produced lines of a delightf ul handwriting on the paper, like a
striped garment,

but kkatt has no use so long as it is not dotted wrongly [namely,
transformed into kazz ] 104

And more than one good calligrapher must have felt like the six-
teenth-century Ottoman master Ishaq Qaramanli, who one day car-
ried with him a highly decorated Koran written by Yaqufs disciple
Arghun, which a customer estimated to be worth 6,000 aqcha; but
when he saw that the same person bought a strong donkey for 10,000
aqcha , he gave up calligraphy and went into retirement, 105

Many calligraphic pages hear the inscription li-kdtibihi {[text] by its
calligrapher). Some of them would boast ol their unusual talents *
such as the not very modest Mtr- c Irnad who addressed himself with
a multiple pun:

When from your pen a dal is drawn,

it is better than the two tresses and the stature of the beloved. 10 *

He alludes with d and l to the tresses, with alif to the stature. More
outre than this perfectly classical verse is the claim of a Turkish
calligrapher who announced in verse that he, hearing the six pens
(i,e. 5 styles) in his hand like a rod, would not fear even a seven-
headed dragon! 107

Other masters were the subject of admiring verses in which their
unsurpassable art was praised, and someone like c Abdur Rashid
Day la mi ("Rashida”), who for a long time served at Shahjahan’s court,
would elegantly calligraph such verses written in his honor and then
return the pages to the authors. 108

From a cursory glance through the biographies it would seem that
the development of a calligraphic career was rather uniform: grow-
ing up in an intellectual environment, the young people studied —
often with relatives— and then either tried to gain their livelihood as
independent or court calligraphers or joined some practical profes-
sion. In Ottoman Turkey after about 1500 talented young men from
all parts of the country would flock to I stanbul— where the art flour-
ished under the benevolent patronage of the sultans — to receive their
training in calligraphy. Many would later be employed as teachers
in the imperial schools or in madrasas (theological schools), or they
would work in the chancellery of the sultan or some vizier or in
religious administration or financial offices (of which a fine repre-
sentation is found in the rare first edition of Mouradgea d’Ohsson’s
work). 100 Probably what was remarked about one of the outstanding
calligraphers at the turn of our century who earned his money by
writing imperial documents could be said of many of them:

If there had not been the trouble of gaining his livelihood and
he could rather have lived [exclusively] for his calligraphy, he
certainly could have written in those forty years [of service in

the bureau] hundreds of copies of the noble Koran and other
pieces of work, 1 ut

In Ottoman Turkey, many good calligraphers reached the highest
echelons of the religious establishment — or , perhaps vice versa: many
leading orthodox theologians were outstanding calligraphers, an
impression that is verified by comparisons with medieval Arabic rec-
ords* Many masters served as Shaykh ul-Islarn or, even more fre-
quently, QadYaskar of Rumeli, Anadolu, or Istanbul* 111 The most
outstanding example is Mustafa Raqim (1787-1825), whose power-
ful inscriptions are known to every visitor to Istanbul and some of
whose calligraphic pictures have been reproduced dozens of times. 112

The less fortunate had to write Korans and other works on order
and were apparently regarded as somewhat inferior by their cob
leagues; as is written about a poor Turkish calligrapher in the eigh-
teenth century: "He belongs to those who spend their days in the
fodder-place of the world like near-sighted goats and make callig-
raphy their sustenance." 113

Only a minority of calligraphers could hope to serve in a princely
or royal library. These lucky few enjoyed the highest prestige 114 and
could even joke with their patrons, as the often repeated story of
Sultan- c Ali and Husayn Bayqara shows. Sultan- c Ali, who had deco-
rated the whole Murad garden in Herat with his calligraphy 115 (be-
sides the almost innumerable manuscripts of Persian poetry that he
produced), was addressed by Husayn Bayqara, who said, "I want
you to prepare my tombstone!” Sultan- c Ali replied, “But that needs
some time, Your Majesty*” Husayn Bayqara laughingly retorted, “I
really don’t intend to die that fast!” m

Calligraphers of this caliber were given, according to the local cos-
toms/high-sounding titles such as qudwat al-kuttdb (Model of scribes);
qiblat al-kuttdb (point of orientation for scribes); or, particularly in
Iran and India, Jawd hir raqam (Jewel letters), Zarrin qalam (Golden
pen), c Ambann qalam (Amber pen), and so on. 117 But these calligra-
phers, being close to the rulers, also suffered with them and under-
went hardships when their patrons were killed, the kingdom was
conquered, or the patronage ceased for some other reason. A typi-
cal example is the leading master of nastaHiq, Mir- c Ali, 118 who was
active in Herat at the time of Husayn Bayqara, stayed there when

Shaybani Khan and his Uzbeks entered the city* 119 and witnessed
how the Uzbek Khan was impudent enough to correct Sukan- c A]i*s
handwriting and Bihzad s painting. He survived the Safavid con-
quest of Herat in 919/1515 and apparently did well under the art-
loving governor Sam Mirza; but when Herat was finally lost to the
Uzbeks in 935/1530, c Ubayd Khan took Mir- c Ali # like other artists,
with him to Bukhara, where he produced some of his finest work.
He was accompanied by his disciple, Sayyid Ahmad Mashhad i, who
served for some time in the library of the Shaybanid ruler c Abdul
c Aziz before returning to his native town after Mir- c Ali’s death in
1556,' 120 while the master calligrapher’s children emigrated to In-
dia. 121 Other calligraphers from the Timurid court at Herat went
with the Safavids to Tabriz and Qazvin and served there to develop
a new era of nasta c liq calligraphy. Still others followed the example
of the numerous poets who migrated to India in search of employ-
ment; and Qandahar, where Humayun stayed for some time before
reconquering India, became a second Herat. The Indian tradition
of developed nasiaHiq really begins at that time at Qandahar.

Not every calligrapher was born and reared in an educated mid-
dle- or upper-class milieu, though this was the normal pattern. Sul-
tan- c AIi Mashhad i has told the pitiful beginnings of his career in his
poem 122 — the orphaned child who had practiced without a teacher,
was guided by some saintly personality, and finally emerged as the
leading and certainly most prolific writer of nastaHiq, which he wrote
in the style of Azhari of Herat 123

Now and then one finds condescending remarks about a master
“whose father was a saddler, but . * . , 1,121 and one of the greatest
masters in fifteenth -century Iran is known as c Abdallah-i Haravi
Tabbakh, or Ashpaz, “the Cook.” It is told that he became interested
in calligraphy when he brought a trayful of soup from his father’s
little shop to Maulana Ja c far the calligrapher, who was surrounded
by elegant young disciples, 125 Thanks to his hard work he soon sur-
passed his noble classmates and became an outstanding master, not
only in Maulana Ja c far’s style of nasiaHiq, but also in nos kh, in which
he wrote forty-five Koran copies. “In the fire of longing, the kettle
of his desire began to boil and, heated by his master ’s instruction,
became aflame with fame, and through his education he became a
"cooked’ perfect human being whose specialty is to spread out the
tablecloth of mastership and to distribute lavishly various kinds of

delicacies/’ 126 “The Cook” thus poetically praised, married his mas-
ter's daughter and became his true successor; he also went to India
for some time, presumably to Bidar. 127

An example from more recent times is that of RiPat Efendi (1857-
1942), an orphan from Istanbul who was so fascinated by the beauty
of Arabic letters he saw on tombstones that he collected the dust of
charcoal to prepare an inklike matter, which he kept in dam shells,
and used the stems of nettles as a pen to copy inscriptions from
tombstones. He was discovered by a calligrapher who properly
trained him, so that he became a highly respected master of the
craft* 128 At the same time, the leading calligrapher in Istanbul was
Filibeli Bakkal c Arif (d. 1909) who, as his surname indicates, kept a
grocery shop besides instructing people in calligraphy. 1 2 s We are
again reminded of the Sufi tradition a thousand years ago when the
Sufi master, who often was a craftsman or artisan, would instruct
his select disciples in his little shop, introducing them to the myster-
ies of Divine Love and Beauty, as the calligrapher made them ex-
press these mysteries in well-measured writing.

But there are still more amazing facts than the development of a
poor orphan into a master calligrapher* Some of the oustanding
calligraphers suffered from defects that scarcely seem compatible
with the art of writing. Of course, one does not mind if a calligra-
pher is mute 18,1 (as the proverb has it, “writing is the tongue of the
hand”) or, like the great Mir- c Ali, hard of hearing; 131 but the
first well-known calligrapher in the c Abbasid Empire is known as al-
Akwai , “the Squint-eyed.” The art of nasta c Uq in Turkey was per-
fected by a crippled, left-handed master, Es c ad Vesari, surnamed
c Imad-i Rum (d. 1798). NastaHiq had become popular in Turkey
thanks to the work of Dervish c Abdi Mashhadi (d* 1647), 132 a disci-
ple of Mir-Tmad, and was then refined in the eighteenth century
by this Es c ad, who was born with his right side completely paralyzed
and his left side affected by a palsy that lasted for a long time. Still,
his urge to write was so great that he began to practice as a mere
child and became the founder of Turkish nasta Hlq to whom all silsi-
las go back. Disciples flocked to his house, where the best pen mak-
ers, paper manufacturers, and merchants of pens and penknives
also used to gather. Sultan Mustafa 111, impressed by this unusual
calligrapher, called him to the court. 133

While some calligraphers might write alternately with their left or

right hand, more or less for fun, m others had to find solutions for
more difficult problems. 135 Ibn Muqla, the founding father of naskh
calligraphy, was not the only one who wrote excellently even after
his right hand had been cut off. c Omar al-Aqta c , which attribute
means “with amputated hand/’ is famous among the calligraphers
of Timur's time and was apparently able to write in every style. At
the same time, Sultan Faraj in Egypt punished a calligrapher who
had practiced letter magic by cutting off his tongue and the upper
phalanges of his right hand, but after the ruler's death he continued
writing skillfully with his left hand. 136 During the Talpur period in
Sind one Muhammad c Alam ibn Muhammad Panah Tattavi wrote
several works even after one of the previous rulers, the Kalhora,
had cut off both his hands. Among them is a fine Koran of high
quality (written ca. 1800) that is signed: “Written by the maqtu 1 al-
yadayn Muhammad c Alairf,” to which he added a Persian verse:

I have written this noble book with amputated hands
so that people with insight should praise me. 137

As long as royal patronage continued, calligraphy in all its branches
flourished. Various forms were developed to please the eyes of art’
loving princes, among which one has to mention the art of wassail,
the preparation of a special cardboard by pasting and pressing lay-
ers of paper together. These wa$lf became the ideal vehicle for al-
bum pages and were eagerly collected. 138 It seems that the art of
preparing such pages goes back to Baysunghur Mirza's court, and
c Ali Efendi’s verse that he ‘‘produced rainbows on the sky of the
page” 139 could be applied to more than one artist. Yet, the same
author complains bitterly about those who cut to pieces pages with
verses,

and place at the border of each page unconnected verses like a
commentary, that means, they divide every poetical piece into
four and separate every hemistich from its relatives and paste
it wherever they want. 140

This Turkish quotation from the late sixteenth century applies also
to many of the Moghul album pages in which a miniature or die

central piece of calligraphy have no relation whatsoever to the sur-
rounding lines, and purely aesthetic considerations seem to have
played a role in producing a lovely page.

The courts — again, first the Timurid court in Herat— sometimes
had a qdti c who cut out extremely fine letters to be pasted on the
pages, 141 The Divan of Hu say n Bayqara as cut out by c Abdallah, son
of Mir- c Ali, is probably the best-known example of this art, since
some pages from it had been enleve par des miserable s sots (as Hu art
translates the Furkish author Habib's juhald-i khudhald) 142 from the
Aya Sofya manuscript and found their way into Western collections.
(The occurrence in Habib's book, published in 1306/1887, shows
that the theft must have taken place at a very early time.)

The art of decoupe work was perf ected af ter 1500; 14ri some of Mir-
c Ali’s verses have been cut out exactly according to the author’s
handwriting by Sangi c Ali Badakhshi in Bukhara in 943/1537, among
them the calligrapher's charming remark:

My head became a w t my foot a d, and my heart an n,
until the writing of me, sick of heart, became so well shaped {mau-
znn)

with the famous line

Writing, khatt, became the chain on the foot of this demented per-
son, 144

In Turkey, where the tradition continued, Fakhri of Bursa is men-
tioned as the best master of this art* 1 45

Some calligraphers in royal service were occupied with preparing
seals, cutting precious stones, and drawing the inscriptions of coins*
Others w f et e charged with writing the royal tughrd in ever more re-
fined forms* One usually forgets that the poet Tughrah, w r hose Ld-
miyat al- c ajam is one of the most famous medieval Arabic poems, w f as
a calligrapher and vizier at the Seljukid court and acquired his sur-
name from the skill with which he drew the tughrd. 14b

We are comparatively well informed about the masters at Akbar’s
court who were experts in cutting riqd t and nastaHiq on seals; 147 these
had developed a special technique of mirror script, and w T ere called

ckapnivh (left writer). 148 Some of them became so fluent in this tech-
nique that they could write entire stories in khatt-i ma c kus (inverted
script). 149 The highest office in this branch of the royal bureaus was,
at least in Turkey, the sersikkeken (First Seal Cutter), whose assistant
apparently did much of the artistic work. 150 Some engraver-callig-
raphers worked not only on the comparatively soft agate but on
hard stones as well. Maulana Ibrahim at Akbar’s court engraved the
words laH-i jalali upon all pieces of ruby in the treasury, and much
later the Turkish master Vahdeti produced a long inscription on an
enormous piece of emerald in the Ottoman treasury. 151 In later days,
when not only artistically designed coins but also bank notes came
into use, some of the best Ottoman calligraphers were engaged in
drawing the models of Turkish and Egyptian bank notes and post-
age stamps. 152

The enthusiasm for beautiful calligraphy led very early to forg-
eries and, to say the least, w r rong attributions. One of the oldest
recorded tales of a forgery is told about I bn al-Bawwab who, at the
behest of the Buwayhid prince Baha’uddaula, set out to write the
missing juz* of a Koran written by Ibn Muqla; carefully preparing
the same kind of paper, he succeeded so well that the delighted
prince decided to claim that the entire Koran copy was the work of
Ibn Muqla. 153 Similarly, it is told that "Arif Bayazid Purani, a mem-
ber of the leading intellectual family of Herat, was such a good cal-
ligrapher that one day he imitated a page written by Sul tan- c All
after preparing the same kind of wasli and the same ornamentation.
The piece was shown to Mir c Ali Shir Nava’i, who was visiting the
Puranis and was highly surprised to see "his 5 ' page in their house.
His librarian was summoned and brought the original page. Sultan-
c Ah, who was present, became so angry that he took both pages and
threw them in the basin around which the guests were sitting. But,
perceiving Mir c All Shir’s anger, he quickly took them out, and it
was finally decided that the page that had not been damaged by
water should be the master's original. 154

Looking at the enormous amount of material at hand, one may
ask what and how fast a master calligrapher wrote. The warrdq, the
copyist in ancient times, seems to have led a rather miserable life,
for he had to produce large quantities of well-written pages to gain
his livelihood. One of the early scribes could copy up to 100 pages
in twenty- four hours, 155 but even a good calligrapher could reach a

high speed. The story of Muhammad Simi Nishapuri, one of Bay-
sunghur’s calligraphers, has often been told. He composed and wrote
3,000 lines of poetry in twenty-four hours and neither slept nor ate
until he had finished them in spite of all the noise surrounding him.
But this Simi was a rather eccentric figure in his time, noted both
for his enormous appetite and for his strong baraka , which helped
all children who learned writing from him to obtain a good position
in life. 1515 We know that another calligrapher, Maulana Ma'ruf at
the court of Iskandar Mirza, was paid to write 500 verses a day; and
when he once had neglected his duty for two days, he made up tor
it by writing 1,500 verses in one day, while a disciple was entrusted
with trimming his pens. 157 Of Moil a $hu c uri, one of the calligra-
phers in Timurid Herat, the amount of 300 verses — -apparently for
one day — -is mentioned with approval, and this seems to have been
more than average, 158

It is told that Yaqut wrote 1,001 copies of the Koran, producing
two jut* a day, which amounts to two Korans a month. This legend
probably serves to explain the numerous copies of Korans more or
less legitimately attributed to Yaqut. 159 lbn abRawwab wrote 64
copies of the Holy Book, of which at least one is preserved. 160 The
earliest information about the amount of writing done by a callig-
rapher goes back to the generation after Yaqut, a few earlier data
notwithstanding. Yaqut's disciple Nasrullah Qandahari is credited
with 25 copies, some of which are still extant; another disciple, Hajji
Muhammad Bandduz, completed the Holy Book probably sixteen
times, while Pir Muhammad as-Sufi al-Bukhari, who spent most of
his life in Samarqand, copied the Koran 44 times. One copy by him,
dated 1444, is known; 101 moreover, he wrote 849 miishaf, which, as
is understood from twelfth -century sources, does not necessarily
mean a full copy but rather a quarter (rub c ) or another fragment of
the Koran, which was then bound separately. 162 This explains the
sometimes amazingly great number of “copies of the Koran” pro-
duced by some scribes, even though for later Ottoman times aston-
ishing quantities of complete Korans are attested for individuals.

The attitude of the calligraphers to the art of writing a Koran
varied. c Ali al-Qari, the well-known theologian and author of many
religious works in the Naqshbandi tradition (d. 1605), used to write
one superb Koran every year, sell it, and then live on the proceeds
for the next year; 163 while one of his corn patriots some decades later

produced 400 copies of the Koran in his lifetime, making an aver-
age of 10 per annum. 164 Some calligraphers may have written, like
Mol la Khusrau Yazdi (d- 1480), two pages every day for the sake of
blessing. Others may have followed the example of Sayyid Mehmed
Kaiserili around 1700, who made it a point to write all 30 juz of the
Koran every month so that he turned out 12 copies of the Holy
Book every year — but his biographer does not particularly dwell
upon the elegance of his writing. 165 One of the last great Turkish
calligraphers presented the 304th of his 306 copies to the last Otto-
man sultan, Reshad, and "he had collected all the wood pieces of
the pens with which he had written the Koran and ordered that the
water for his funeral washing should be heated with this wood,” 166
a custom that was known as early as the twelfth century among pious
calligraphers. 167

Besides writing the Koran, the masters of the naskh-thuluth tradi-
tion had a number of other favorite works they liked to reproduce.
It may therefore be interesting to look at the work of one of the
major calligraphers of nineteenth -century Turkey, Vasfi Efendi
(d + 1247/1831), 168 because his inventory reflects the predilection of
most Turkish writers in the succession of Shaykh Hamdullah and
Hafiz Osman: 20 copies of the Koran, 3 Shi fa* (i.e + , Qadi Hyad’s
work about the qualities of the Prophet, which was immensely pop-
ular in medieval Islam, and had acquired a certain sanctity of its
own), 169 and 150 Dalciil and An c dm (he., Jazulfs collection Data’il al-
kkayrat, which contains blessings for the Prophet and has been used
by millions of pious souls to express their love for the Prophet). The
predilection for Sura 6, al-An c dm 3 seems peculiar to the Turkish
tradition 170 and is apparently inspired by a model written by Shaykh
Hamdullah. In addition, Vasfi Efendi wrote 1,150 prayer books and
the commentary on the Pandnama; he also copied the Forty hadith ,
probably in the redaction of Jami; single prayers from the tradition;
and haim ciizleri, the last of the 30 parts of the Koran. Besides all
that, he several times imitated the hilya as standardized by Hafiz
Osman, in which the lofty qualities of the Prophet are written in
naskh with the line rahmatan liFalamin in prominent thulutk in die
center and the names of the four righteous caliphs in the corners, 171
and he wrote another 200 kilyas in different styles. Vasfi further
composed more than 2,300 album pages and 3,000 fragments — cer-
tainly a remarkable achievement! Copies of Bukhari’s §ahik and

other, later collections of hadlth such as the Maskdriq al-anwdr and
Mishkdt al-masdbih were likewise favorites with pious masters. One
eighteenth-century calligrapher is credited with 70 copies of the
Bukhari, the Skifd\ Baydawi's commentary on the Koran, il and other
voluminous works." 172 A special sanctity surrounded Busin's Qasidat
al-Burda, which was copied, alone or in one of the numerous takhmfs
(quintuplet) versions, by a great number of masters, particularly in
Mamluk Egypt. Busiri himself was a well-known calligrapher of the
thirteenth century who trained some disciples, 173

Turkish calligraphers excelled particularly in album pages in which
the lines of naskh and thuluth were harmoniously blended to con-
vey— mainly — quotations from the Prophetic tradition. Many of
them, like their predecessors in Iraq and Iran, were also engaged in
composing inscriptions for mosques and other religious buildings
and ornamenting mosques with enormous calligraphic plates in jali
script. The way in which Ottoman calligraphers overcame the enor-
mous difficulties encountered in composing and then executing the
Koranic inscriptions around the apexes of Ottoman mosques still
looks like a miracle to the modern admirer.

Among the calligraphers of nastaHtq , the preferences are of course
completely different, for to write the Koran in nasta'iJq was, as we
saw, very unusual. Pious Arabic sentences, invocations of c Ali, and
short prayers are found on nastaHiq pages as well, but the major
achievement of the calligraphers was to copy classical Persian liter-
ature, particularly poetry; 174 and it is here that a unique blending
of text and calligraphy was achieved. It goes without saying that the
favorites of Persian readers, Sa c di and Hafiz, top the lists of the
available material; Nizami's Khamsa or parts of it are also well rep-
resented, but even more prominent in later times is j ami's poetry,
the most romantic of his epics, Yusuf u Zulaykhd being copied over
again. Another favorite was Maulana Rumi’s Matknawi, about which
a calligrapher wrote, at the beginning of a complicated chrono-
gram;

. . . the kitab-i Mathnawi-i maulavi-i ma c nam f
which has given prominence to both haqiqa (Divine Truth) and
sharfa (religious law),

is the best medicine for the pain of the wounded,

and there is no other remedy for the soul of ailing lovers. 175

This means that by copying the Matknawi the calligrapher felt that
he was receiving spiritual medicine for his heart's pain.

Next in frequency to this work, at least during the late fifteenth
and the early sixteenth centuries, stands a book that nowadays is not
even available in a good edition, the Divan of Shahi Sabzavari, who
himself was one of the calligraphers, musicians, and poets of Bay-
sun ghur Mirza's court 176 Sometimes the calligraphers would copy
historical texts but preferred to turn to c All's “Forty sayings' 5 in Ja-
mi's versification or to the Mundjdt of c Abdallah-i Ansari, a lovely
prayer book of the eleventh century. The great divans of Khaqani and
Anvari are surprisingly rarely represented in M. Bayani’s useful
list. 177

Some manuscripts are remarkable not only for their beauty but
also for the little insights into a calligrapher's mind that the colo-
phon may allow. We certainly appreciate the master who wrote at
the end of Shabistari’s Gulshan-i rdz:

Praise be to God that the commentary of the Gulshan-i rdz
became clear in this shape through my pen!

With geometrical art each verse of its text
was written altogether on one line,
and it did not happen that one of its hemistichs
became confused with another line. 178

Sultan- c Ali of Mashhad— from whose pen probably more nasia Htq
manuscripts emerged than from that of any other calligrapher be-
cause he continued writing almost to the end of his very long life-
boasted in his verses added to a copy of the Divan -i Hafiz (written in
896/1492) that in spite of his being sixty-three years old his musk-
colored pen was still young so that by the grace of God he did not
spoil a single page, 1711 and even manuscripts that he copied ten years
later are of flawless beauty. Likewise Shaykh Hamdullah, when more
than eighty years old, was able to copy a perfectly flawless Koran,
“with my head shaking and my hair falling out in the days of old
age,” 180 And we fed for the successor of a calligrapher who had
intended to copy Jarni’s Subhat al-abrdr (“The Rosary of the Pious”)
who died during this w r ork and was lamented by his friend with the
lines:

H e wanted at some point that with famous script
he should ornate a book by Jam i.

He did what was allotted to him of this work—

He chose the Rosary, which is very choice.

The days cut off the thread of his life,

and the thread of the Rosary was not completed by him . 181

Some calligraphers who had been copying all kinds of texts for
the sake of earning money turned to writing pious texts in the later
years of their lives 182 or retired to a quiet place where they could
pursue their art without the disturbances of courtly or urban life.
Qum was “a haven of disappointed artists ” 183 in the sixteenth cen-
tury, and many Shia artists spent their last years in Mashhad,

Knowing the difficult circumstances under which many of the cal-
ligraphers and scribes worked, one wonders if their eyes did not fail
them over the course of the years. It seems that at least from the
sixteenth century onward it was unusual to write small calligraphy
without eyeglasses . 184 The first concrete remark pertaining to the
use of spectacles is connected with Shah- Mahmud Nishapuri in the
mid-sixteenth century, who wrote inscriptions and decorative pages
wearing glasses , 185 The word c aynak (spectacles) begins to appear in
Indo-Persian poetry at about the same time. A miniature in Istanbul
that shows Yaqut with spectacles is of course an anachronism . 180
Later poets, then, sometimes claimed that the sky itself had put on
spectacles consisting of sun and moon to admire someone’s beautiful
handwriting or an exquisite album . 187

Plaited Kufic lam-alif, from a stucco inscription

Love of calligraphy being so typical of Islamic culture, it would be
surprising if the rulers themselves had not turned to this noble art.

Indeed, many of them were not only connoisseurs of calligraphy but
masters of this art, among them the Ayyubid al-Malik al- c AdiI (d.
569/1 174) 188 and the accomplished prince of Hama, Abul-Fida* (d.
1331 ). im One understands why Mamluk historiographers some-
times sadly state that this or that sultan's handsign looked ungainly
as a crow’s foot! 196 Yet at the same time some of the finest, and
certainly largest, Korans were written for these very sultans, and the
epigraphy on buildings constructed during their reigns, as on metal-
work and glass, belongs to the finest examples of Islamic art.

It is told that Mu c awiya, the founder of the Ornayyad house, was
a good writer himself and that the Prophet gave him some instruc-
tions as to how to write the basmala — instructions that reflect later
ideals of scribes; for example, “Put a tiqa in your inkwell, sharpen
the pen, and put the b upright and separate the s and make the m
blind, and write the word Allah beautifully, and extend the ar-Rah-
mdn and make the ar-Rahm fine.” 181 Another Gmayyad ruler, Mar-
w r an, learned writing — as tradition has it — together with his cousin,
the caliph c Othman ibn c Affan (d* 36/656); 182 the role of c Ali ibn
Abi Talib as the first member of the calligraphers* spiritual pedigree
has been mentioned earlier.

The practical interest of rulers in calligraphy became visible to-
ward the end of the tenth century. c Adudaddau!a the Bu way hid is
known as a good calligrapher who learned the art from Ibn Muqla’s
brother. 19r5 Slightly later the ruler of Gilan, Qabus ibn Wushmgir
(d, 1013), wrote such a good hand in naskh that a source claims that,
when the eye of the Sahib Ibn c Abbad, himself a noted master of
calligraphy, fell on his w r riting, he asked in his usual rhymed style,
A-hadha khattu Qabus am jandhu ta us (“Is this the script of Qabus or
a peacock’s wing?”) 194 The comparison of beautiful handwriting w r tth
a peacock’s wing remains common in the later Persian tradition. 105

A century later, the c Ahbasid caliphs al-Mustazhir (d. 512/1118)
and even more al-Mustarshid (d. 529/1135) w r ere known as masters
of the “Bawwabian style” in calligraphy, 196 while the last ruler of the
c Abbasid house, abMusta c sim (d* 656/1258), studied writing with his
slave, the famous Yaqut* 187

Even though the Zirid prince al-Mu c izz ibn Badis (d, 453/1061)
wrote a treatise on calligraphy, and the Nasrid ruler of Granada,
Muhammad II (d. 701/1302), is mentioned as a good calligrapher,

the interest seems to center in the Persianate area. Two of the early
Ghaznavid rulers, MasTid ibn Mahmud (d* 432/1041) and his son
Ibrahim (d. 491/1098), are mentioned for their good hand; Mas c ud
reportedly studied calligraphy with Ibn al-Bawwab. 198 Both— thus
Mustaqimzade — used to write Korans, which they then gave away to
the poor and needy* Ibn ar-Rawandi extensively speaks of the thirty
juz of a magnificent Koran that the last Seljukid ruler, Tughrul,
wrote after studying calligraphy with an unde of Ibn ar-Rawandi
and had it beautifully illuminated and gilded, spending large
amounts of money on it and then distributing it. 199 In the following
centuries, rulers in Iran, India, and Ottoman Turkey not only pa-
tronized calligraphers but sometimes competed with them. Thus,
Shah Shuja c the Muzaffarid, often mentioned in Hafiz's verse, is
praised as having written well in the style of Yaqut* 200

Both Ahmad ibn Uwais JataTr of Baghdad 201 and Ya c qub, the
ruler of the Aqqoyunlu Turcomans, were known for their good
hand; die latter tried to attract to his court the most famous callig-
rapher of his age, Sultan- c Ali of Mashhad. 202 However, a particular
love of calligraphy seems to be a hallmark of the house of Timur in
all its branches* Timur himself was interested in calligraphy as in
other arts and crafts, and his grandson Ibrahim Mirza ibn Shah-
rukh was instructed in calligraphy by the noted author Sharafuddin
of YazdT 0 ’* His handwriting was so perfect that, as Daulatshah claims,
his pages could be sold as works of Yaqut. £1M Ibrahim Mirza excelled
in jali writing; not only were many of the now destroyed inscriptions
in Shiraz written by him, but some Korans are still extant to give
witness to bis art — one in golden letters in nhdni script {measuring
65 by 45 cm) is preserved in Shiraz, 205 and another one (completed
on 4 Ramadan 830/29 June 1427) is in the Metropolitan Museum. 200

Even greater is the fame of Baysunghur Mirza, whose library in
Herat was the veritable center of the art of the book* He had forty
calligraphers in his service (which number may be taken as simply
denoting a very great number) and “each of them was the miracle
of his time and the rarity of the age/ 1 and “they left such rare and
unusual works that until the hem of resurrection they will not be
wiped out by the hand of the events of time and not trodden down
by the turning over of ages*” 207 The prince himself also “unfurled
the flag of the pen in the battlefield of the calligraphers.” 20 * One of

his Korans in muhaqqaq is preserved in Mashhad; another one, of the
enormous size of 177 by 101 cm, is in the Gulistan Museum, 209 and
some superb pages found their way into the Metropolitan Museum.
Among those who surrounded him, and who were allegedly all dis-
ciples of Mir- c Alt Tabrizi, were artists who excelled in many other
fields besides calligraphy, such as Shahi Sabzavari, whose poetry
was a favorite of the Timur id age; the poet Katibi Turshizi, a disci-
ple of Maul an a Simi in calligraphy; and Yahyn Sibak who, under
the pen name Fattahi, wrote the influential novel Dastur al- c usk-
shdq. 210

The Timurid interest in calligraphy once more becomes evident
at the court of Husayn Bayqara of Herat who, although not a great
calligrapher himself, gathered the leading masters of his day around
him* His son BadLuzzaman Mirza, who went first to Tabriz and,
after the Ottoman conquest of that city, to Istanbul (where he died
from the plague in 1517), wrote an extremely good hand in
nasta c Uq. 2 1 1 But the major figures in Herat were, of course, Sultan-
c All of Mashhad and his younger colleague Mir- c Ah al-Katib, who
were patronized not only by the sultan but also by his powerful vi-
zier, Mir c Ali Shir NavaT 212

t he calligraphic tradition continued in the Timurid house in In-
dia; but the Safavids also contributed to the development of the
script. Shah Isma c il I was not only a fine poet in Turki but wrote a
good hand, 213 and the story has often been told of how he tried to
hide the painter Bihzad and the calligrapher Mahmud Nishapuri
during the preparation for the battle of ' Chaldiran in 1514 lest the
Ottomans find and kidnap his most prized artists — a story that, how-
ever, can be dismissed, since both artists joined the Safavid court
about a decade later* 214 Under Shah IsmaHfs descendants the inter-
est in fine arts reached two peaks — in the early days of Shah Tah-
masp and during the rule of Shah c Abbas the Great* Shah Tahmasp
himself (d. 976/1576), a skillful painter in his youthful days, wrote
thulutky naskh, and nastaHiq . £15 A copy that he made of one of the
best-sellers of those days, c A riffs mystical matknavl Guy-o Ckaugdn, is
now in Leningrad, where it was brought along with many other
pieces from the shrine of Ardabil to which it had been bequeathed
and that was occupied by the Russians during the war of 1828.
Among the masterpieces of calligraphy written for Tahmasp is a

Khamsa of Nizami in the hand of Nizamuddin Zarrinqalam in ghubdr
(dust) script— not to mention the famous Houghton Skakname, in which
not only the illustrations but also the high quality of the writing is
worthy of attention. 216

Tahmasp’s brother Bahrain Mirza (d. 956/1549 at the age of thirty-
three) likewise excelled in poetry, particularly in the art of mu c ammd
(riddle), music, and calligraphy. In his superb library the noted cal-
ligrapher, painter* and decoupe master Dost-Muhammad served lor
some time as librarian and collected for his master a mumqqa c , in
the foreword of which he writes:

My pen which showed the letter of your praise in writing
And which was a flag in the horizons of your laud —

Like the pen I’ll be all tongue in your praise,

Like the reed pen* I have my head constantly on the script of your
order. 217

A Koran copy written by Bahrain Mirza in muhaqqaq is preserved in
Istanbul.

The tragic fate of Bahrain's son Ibrahim Mirza, who was executed
in 1577 in the bloom of his youth, has always moved historians of
art, for this prince seemed to combine all talents that were typical
of noblemen, from calligraphy to archery to poetry. He also kept a
flourishing library and was a disciple of Malik Daylami in calligra-
phy, but he is known more than anything else as a collector of spec-
imens t)f Mir- Ah's calligraphy. As his biographer says, "I have never
seen anyone so much searching for and wanting writings of Mir-
c Ali, and being enchanted and thrilled by them,” 21 * so that, accord-
ing to Qadi Ahmad's judgment, about half of what Mir- c Ali had
written was found in Ibrahim's collection, including the muraqqa c
that he had prepared “to provide for his last days and a journey to
the Hijaz, together with some samples, manuscripts, and books/ 1219

Shah c Abbas, who sometimes practiced calligraphy, w r as fond
enough of good writing to hold the candlestick for his favorite, c Ali-
Riza of Tabriz, who excelled predominantly in tkulutk and who com-
posed many of the inscriptions in the public buildings in Isfahan. 220
The strained relations between c Ali-Riza and the unquestioned mas-

ter of nastaHiq in the early seventeenth century, Mir- c Imad, are
known, as is the tension between this somewhat haughty calligra-
pher and the ruler. Mir- c Imad's assassination in 1615 was probably
a result of jealousy and perhaps overstressed competition, coupled
with some unwise remarks by Mir-" I mad, even though Musta-
qimzade claims that Mir- I mad was murdered by tile order of the
"erring, sinister looking Shah" because he was not only a Sunnite
but a staunch member of the Naqshbandiyya and a correspondent
of Ahmad Sirhindi! 221

In later times, Shah c Abbas II was praised by flattering courtiers
for his delicate handwriting, 222 and the interest in calligraphy con-
tinued in the Qajar dynasty as well. Both Fath- c Ali Shah and Mu-
hammad Shah Qajar are mentioned among the nastaHiq writers who
produced some decent pages, 223 and even Nasiruddin Shah was al-
most as interested in calligraphy as in specimens of human beauty.

Calligraphy was practiced in Muslim India from early times, and
certainly after the Ghaznavid conquest of northwestern India. It is
reported that Iltutmish’s grandson, the “angel-like Nasiruddin" (r.
1246-66), left the reins of the government to his general Balban
and spent most of his time copying the Koran; from the money
acquired by the sale of the copies he would live without burdening
the public treasury.

In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, calligraphers from Iran
came to India, and merchants exported specimens of calligraphy of
one or the other Persian master to India and probably to Turkey
also. These then served as models for the indigenous calligra-
phers. 224

The love of artistic writing shown by the earlier li murids, either
by patronage or by their own work, was inherited by Babur, who
was well acquainted with the artistic trends at the court of his cousin
Husayn Bayqara. It seems that Mir- C AH had particularly friendly
relations with the young prince, for he composed some short poems
in his praise. 225 Babur invented a style of his own, the kkati-i bdbun,
and sent a copy of a Koran in this band to Mecca. No example of
this style has survived, for only Mir- c AbduKHayy from Mashhad (d.
980/1572 in Delhi) had mastered this unusual hand to perfection
(some unpleasant colleagues would claim that it was the only thing

he ever mastered). 22 * Babur’s main calligrapher in the six styles was
Mir Shaykh-i Awwal-i Kirmani. 227

When Humayun stayed in Iran, he was lucky to find some fine
calligraphers who, particularly after Shah Tahmasp's “sincere re-
pentance/" were happy to accompany him to India. His son Akbar
then was able to attract numerous masters to his court, even though
he was ihe only Moghul emperor to remain illiterate, Abu’l- Fad's
list in the A’m-i Akbar! gives the names of eighteen masters who
worked at the court, among whom he also mentioned Shah-Mah-
mud of Nishapur, 228 who may have indeed spent some years away
from Iran, as did Dost- Muhammad, Rada 'uni states that nastaHiq
was “improved much"’ by Mir Munshi Ashraf Khan, a Husayni sayyid
from Mashhad who excelled in various styles, 229 “and all the firmans
which are written in Hindustan are almost exclusively in his noble
hand,” 2 * 0 Mir Dauri, the Kdtib al-mulk from Herat, belonged also to
the masters who are singled out by Bada’uni and worked on the
calligraphy of the Hamza-ndma ; 231 and there were a considerable
number of masters “who wrote the seven styles well.” 233 A treatise
on calligraphy was dedicated to Akbar, 333 Among the native Indian
masters, Mir Ma c .sum Nami deserves special attention because he
was not only a good historian of his native province, Sind, but was
also a noted physician and a decent poet; in his quality as master
calligrapher in nastaHiq he adorned Agra Fort, the Boland Darwaza
in Fat h pur Sikri, Fort Mandu, and other imperial monuments with
metrical inscriptions that he himself composed, particularly w r ith
chronograms. He also served as an ambassador to Iran where he
was presented to Shah c Abbas. 2 * 4

Competing with Akbar as a maecenas of fine arts was his gener-
alissimo Khankhanan ^Abdur-Rahim, and the fact that the superin-
tendent of his library, Moll a Muhammad Amin of Kasha n, 235 a dis-
ciple of Shah-Muhammad of Mashhad, received a monthly salary of
4,000 rupees 236 shows how much the Khankhanan appreciated cal-
ligraphy. Since he even kept in touch with the masters living in far-
away cities like Kashan and Qazvin and commissioned them to write
some works for him, many artists from Iran came first to him in the
hope of employment, 237 One of these was c Abdur-Rahim c Ambarin-
Qalam from Herat, who then joined Jahangir’s court; he is the sub-

ject of an exquisite miniature at the end of a copy of Nizami’s Kkamsa,
which he calligraphed for the emperor. 238

Jahangir was particularly fond of good nastaHlq and wrote a large,
though not artistic hand that is well known from the remarks he
hastily jotted down in the manuscripts that were entered into his
library, such as a Divan of Hafiz in the hand of Sultan- c Ali. 239 He
also eagerly collected pages by Mir- c Ali, as can be seen in the albums
assembled by him and his son Shahjahan* When the news of Mir-
' I mad's assassination reached him, he exclaimed, “If Shah c Abbas
had given him to tne I would have paid his weight in pearls! 1 ' 240 But
even though he could not save him, he at least gave shelter to some
of Mir- c Imad’s relatives, among whom Aqa c Abdur-Rashid Daylami,
called Rashida, is particularly important. He was Mir- C I toad's nephew
and disciple (almost all the assassinated master's relatives excelled in
calligraphy). 2 41 Rashida was made the instructor of Dara-Shikoh and,
because of infirmity, finally gave up his work after serving at the
court for twenty-three years; 242 he spent his last years as supervisor
of buildings in Agra. It is told that his death anniversary in this city
was celebrated every year by a meeting of calligraphers. 243

Shahjahan, like his father, was instructed in calligraphy, but his
large, sweeping hand “cannot be called calligraphy/’ as Mehdi Bay-
ani correctly states. 244 The best calligrapher among the Moghuls was
Dara-Shikoh, and many fragments show his versatility. 245 A Koran
written by him for the mausoleum of his patron saint, c Abdul- Qadir
Gilani, is still preserved in that shrine in Baghdad. 246 Bara’s Hindu
secretary, Chandar-Bhan Brahman, was, like his master, a disciple
of Rashida, 247 while Dara's son, Sulayman-Shikoh, 248 was instructed
by a noted calligrapher from Agra, M u' min Akbarabadi Mushkin-
Raqam (d. 1091/1680 at the age of ninety). 249 Dat a’s younger brother
and successful rival, Aurangzeb, was also instructed in calligraphy
by a leading master, Sayyid- c Ali Tabrizi ai-Husayni Jawahir-Raqam
(d. 1094/1682), who, like Rashida, belonged to the silsila of Mir-
C I mad. 2 50 Aurangzeb was a powerful calligrapher, as can be wit-
nessed from the copies of the Koran that are preserved in various
museums. 251 The third brother, Shah-Shuja c , copied some pages
“after the writing of Maulana Mir- c Ali/* 252 which show's that admi-
ration for the great master of Herat and Bukhara continued in the
house of Timur. A few decades later, Muhammad Shah Rangela (d.

1748) tried his hand in nasta liq calligraphy 253 and, as the poetical
talent was inherited by most of Babur's descendants, the interest in
calligraphy too continued to the very end of the Moghul dynasty.
The last emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar (d. 1862), mastered various
styles and even instructed disciples in calligraphy (as he had also
some disciples in Sufism). He is best known for charming little cal-
ligraphic pictures of faces, flowers, and other items i ntugkrd style. 254

In the Deccan* the calligraphic tradition goes hack to Bahmanid
days. The large thuluth inscriptions inside Ahmad Shah Wall’s (d.
1435) tomb in Ridar are written by Shukrullah Qazvini, 255 and the
inscriptions at the Nrmatullahi shrine in Bidar, which are almost
contemporary with Ahmad Shah’s mausoleum, are probably the most
outstanding examples of elegant thuluth carved out of stone found
all over India in this early period. One wonders if these inscriptions
were drawn by one of Shah Ni c matullah J s disciples, the famous cal-
ligrapher Ashrafuddin Mazandarani, who wrote some verses of the
poet Adhari in jail thuluth for Ahmad Shah’s palace* “and the Te-
lugu masters, who are miracle workers in imitation, carved it in a
huge stone and placed it over the gate*” 256 The inscriptions at the
Ni c matullahi shrine would conform to this description.

The influx of calligraphers— either visiting or settling there — con-
tinued during the later Bahmanid time. c Abdallah-i Tabbakh of
Herat was one of those who went to India and, as the chronicles
state, composed an ode in honor of the prime minister, some of
whose verses are quoted by Habib. 257 Although the place in “India”
is not specified, the only prime minister of that period who was wor-
thy of an ode was Mahmud Gawan of Bidar (assassinated 1481), the
most important maecenas of scholarship and art in the Bahmanid
kingdom. His relations with Herat are well known, and in his cor-
respondence with one of the Iranian masters of historiography and
calligraphy, Sharafuddin Yazdi, he used plentifully the imagery from
the sphere of writing. 25 * It is said that the superb muhaqqaq inscrip-
tion of his madrasa in Bidar, parts of which are still visible in radiant
tilework, was composed by c Ali as-Sufi who, at some point, worked
also in Istanbul to adorn some of Mehmet the Conqueror's build-
ings. 259

Another Persian calligrapher called, like the most famous master
of his time and therefore sometimes confused with him, Mir- c Ali al-

Katib-i Mashhadi, died in Gujarat in 1528; 26U lie may have been an
instructor of Sultan Muzaffar the Benevolent, the art- loving, pious
son of Mahmud Begra who is known as a calligrapher and musician.

The inscriptions on the sarcophagi of the Quthshahi kings in
Go Icon da prove that calligraphy was as highly developed in the Dec-
can as it was in the Moghul Empire, Lutfullah al-Husayni of Tabriz
(d, 1633) decorated many monuments in the city of Hyderabad, built
in 1600 by Sultan Muhammad-Quli Qutbshah.

li seems that calligraphy flourished particularly at the c Adilshahi
court of Bijapur, where even the first ruler, Yusuf, is credited with
a good hand in nastaHiq , Ibrahim c Aclilshah II, the most charming
personality among the Bijapuri rulers, wrote some calligraphic pages,
A copy of his book, Kitab-i nauras, was written by the court calligra-
pher c Ismatullah. Several other copies were entered into the royal
library in 1613 when the accomplished disciple of Mu c izzuddin of
Kashan, Muhammad Baqir, served as head librarian, but even more
famous was the copy produced by Mir Khalilullah Shah, '['his mas-
ter, a disciple of Sayy id -Ahmad of Mashhad, 2 * 1 left the Safavid Em-
pire and traveled through various cities until he reached India.
Ibrahim c Adilshah was so delighted with his copy of the Kitab-i nauras
that he gave him the title Pddishdh-i qalam (“Emperor of the Pen”),
made him sit on his throne, and “hade his courtiers to accompany
him to his residence.” The calligrapher then composed a chrono-
gram for this occasion, playing with his surname shah (which, like
Mir, indicates his status as a sayyid), Shah gardtd padwhak-i qalam (“The
Shah/king became the emperor of the pen ?t ), 2 * 2 Ibrahim’s court poet
Zuhuri, to whom we owe such colorful poetical descriptions ol the
Deccan, was very fond of Khalilullah, hut others criticized him be-
cause he used the razor too often for amendments- — -something a
good calligrapher should never do. (Khalilullah is reported to have

were very expensive, and one of bis admirers had to give a good
Arab horse to the owner of such a page to obtain it, 2 *' 1 Many of
Khalilullah’s calligraphies were later housed in the library of Asa-
fuddaula in Lucknow — which was, alas, destroyed in 1856 after it
had fallen on bad days decades before— as becomes clear from the
report of the then cataloguer, the Austrian orientalist Aloys Spren-
gen Khalilullah, who is also called Amir Khalil Qalandar or Butshi-

kan, returned to Iran at the invitation of Shah c Abbas, hut he pre-
ferred life in India and died in Hyderabad in 1626. On the whole,
Ibrahim c Adilshah seems to have preferred the naskh style of callig-
raphy in which most copies of the Kitab-i nauras are written. The
calligraphic panels that cover large areas of the Ibrahim Rauza, the
king's mausoleum, in Bijapur are of highest artistic quality.

Many of the calligraphers who visited India or seeded there had
to pass through Sind, for the Lower Indus Valley served as a kind
of relais for artists during the mid-sixteenth century. The two Turk-
ish dynasties that ruled in Sind after the fall of the indigenous
Samma dynasty in 1520, namely the Arghuns and Tarkhans, had
descended from Herat; thus, calligraphers and poets who fled the
war-stricken city found many old friends and relatives in the capital,
Thatta, Barely any manuscripts have survived from that time; yet
the inscriptions on tombstones in Makli Hill prove the presence of
excellent masters of tkuluth and, less prominently, of nastaHiq in Sind;
and even the last dynasty of Sind, the Talpurs (1786-1843), though
themselves not active in literature or fine arts, were able to attract a
number of good calligraphers from Iran and northern India. 285

Perhaps the most outstanding royal tradition of calligraphy is
found in the Ottoman house, where almost every other ruler is
known as a calligrapher. Murad IPs interest in calligraphy is men-
tioned by the sources; 288 Mehmet the Conqueror studied calligra-
phy with a master from Samsun; 287 and Ekrem Hakkl Ayverdi has
given a detailed account of the high standard of calligraphy on var-
ious media during Fatih's time. 288 The real royal tradition, however,
seems to begin with Mehmefs son Bayezid II who, during his gov-
ernorship in Atnasya, had the good fortune of becoming the disciple
of the founder of the Turkish school of naskh and tkuluth, Shaykh
Hamdullah (1436-1519), who continued the line of YaquPs disciple,
Ahmad Suhrawardi. Amasya was apparently a fertile soil for callig-
raphy; at least it is claimed that Yaqut was born in that city. As for
his spiritual descendant, Shaykh Hamdullah, his whole family was
famed for good writing. 263 He himself was, as legend has it, inspired
by Khidr to develop a new elegant style of naskh and thiduth. Prince
Qorqut also studied with him in Amasya; then the shaykh pro-
ceeded to Istanbul where his former pupil Bayezid had ascended
the throne in 1481 after much internecine struggle. He was highly

honored by the sultan, who did not mind placing the cushions in
the right position for him or holding his inkstand* The master was
also granted a decent income from two villages in the Szigetvar area.
It is a strange coincidence that his life span is almost exactly the
same as that of Sultan- c Ali of Mashhad, who occupied a very similar
position both in the spiritual genealogy of calligraphers and in the
official hierarchy of a Turkish court.

Shay kb Hamdullah wrote forty -seven copies of the Koran and
many thousands of prayers as well as other texts, 270 and from him
the silsila goes through his son-in-law Shukrullah through six gen-
erations until it reached Hafiz Osman in the second half of the sev-
enteenth century. Since Shaykh Hamdullah’s grandson was squint-
eyed, he had to write bent very closely over the paper and did not
attain the same perfection as his father and grandfather; therefore,
the line continued through nonrelatives, : 271

In the late fourteenth century I bn Khaldun had praised Cairo as
the center of civilization and hence of good calligraphy; the same
could be said even more justifiably about Istanbul from 1500 on-
ward. 272 Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent's good hand in both thu-
luth and la c ltq was highly praised by Turkish writers, 27 * and he was
lucky enough to be surrounded by a number of excellent calligra-
phers who decorated his buildings with their inscriptions. The most
outstanding personality among them was Ahmad Qarahisari, whose
artistic genealogy went through Pir Yahya as-Sufi 27 ^ to c Abdallah
as-Sayrafi to Yaqut His large inscriptions in roundels in the Siiley-
maniya mosque are as well known to every visitor to Istanbul, as are
his very unusual and daring specimens of the basmala, in which he
reached the absolute perfection of the large tauqv hand and that
lately have frequently been printed in both the East and the West
because of their unique dynamism (after Habib had published it
first in his book Khatt u khattdtdn in 1306/1887). One understands
why some admirer thus described his basmala in a Persian verse;

The stature of this basmala in the garden of calligraphy

Became a cypress and produced seed from dots.

These letters became the victorious army;

Each alif is finally a flag! 275

Qarahisari* according to the biographers a petit* very elegantly
attired person, must have been possessed by a special power* and
his art is as unique as is his contemporary Mi "mar Sinan's architec-

ture. Famous is the Koran that he wrote for the sultan; and in his
album pages he combined, as it became more and more popular,
naskh and thuluth in a harmonious blending . 2 7ii It is not surprising
that he did not form a school but had only a few very special stu-
dents* among them his former slave and then adopted son, Hasan
Chelebi Chaikas. 277 In 963/1556, when he was close to ninety, “the
dots of his script became transformed into moles on the cheeks of
the houris of Paradise/’ 278

A generation later, Murad III appears as the ruler who best com-
bined love of fine arts and mystically tinged verse. His jalt thuluth
was so outstanding that two of his writings adorn the Aya Sofya
mosque. 2 79 It was for him that A l i Efendi translated Qutbuddin
Y a zd i s R isdla-i quthiyya a s M andqih- i h Una rva ran . a H 0 This c A 1 i E fen d i
from Gallipoli was an employee in the divans of several grandees
and a prolific writer of pretty mediocre prose, history, and poetry
as well; he apparently devoted every spare moment of his busy life
in the various corners of the Ottoman Empire to calligraphy, which
he had learned from Shaykh Hamdullah’s grandson, Shukrullah-
zade Pir Mehmet Dede. For his translation of Qutbuddin's work he
secured the help of the noted calligrapher c Abdullah Qirimi; 281 but
it is his additions to the text, casting interesting sidelights on the
history of Turkish calligraphy and on the life of a rather frustrated
calligrapher, that are of special value even though his work has to

be used with caution* Another artist who was aware of Murad II Fs

love of calligraphy dedicated a book of calligraphic models (now in
Vienna) to him, 282 During Murad’s reign a “strange man” {tuhaf ctdmi)
reached Istanbul — the Persian ambassador El chi Ibrahim Khan
(990/1582) who “had attained a white beard due to the love of [black]
writing and who exaggerated in his album pages the flaking of gold
and ornamentation for* since his handwriting was not very distin-
guished, it was to hide his mistakes that he spent gold lavishly*” 283
Somewhat later, Sultan Murad IV (1623—40) is praised as a fine
calligrapher even by one of the leading masters of nastaHiq, Nargis-
izade; and Sayyid Ibrahim Efendi Nefeszade dedicated his Gulzar-i

1 3

savab, an important work on calligraphy often transcribed by later
calligraphers, to him. 284

Slightly later the Turkish calligraphic tradition reached its apex
with Hafiz Osman (c. 1642-98), a member of the Sunbuliyya order
centered in the tekke of Kocamustafa Pasha. 285 The Koran as writ-
ten by him is still the ideal for every art- loving, pious Turk, who
would certainly agree with the chronogram marking his death:

To serve the word of God day and night,

The Almighty had granted him yad-i tula [special power].

Yahya Kemal, the last classical Turkish poet, has praised Hafiz
Osman in his poem “Kocamustafa Pa§a”, calling him “the prophet
of penmanship”, whose luminous being illuminates the darkness of
the cemetery where “creepers, inscriptions, stones, and trees are
blended together.” It was Hafiz Osman who instructed the royal
brothers Mustafa II and Ahmad III even after he suffered a stroke.
As Bayezid II had attended to Shaykh Hamdullah’s needs, thus
Mustafa II did not mind holding the inkstand for his teacher, and
it is told that he once remarked: “Never will there be another Hafiz
Osman!” Whereupon the calligrapher replied: “Your Majesty, as long
as there are kings that hold the inkstand for their teacher there will
be many more Hafiz Osmans!” He thus pointed to the importance
of patronage as well as to the rules of proper behavior which even
a king has to observe vis-a-vis his teacher. 287 The instruction was
apparently very successful, as shown by the large basmala the sultan
wrote in one stroke of the pen; it now adorns the Aya Sofya, 28 * It is
said that he always asked Hafiz Osman to write a sentence first and
then copied it. 2gs Mustafa’s brother and successor Ahmad III prac-
ticed first with Hafiz Osman and, after the master’s death in 1698,
with his favorite disciple, Yedikuleli c Abdallah, who wrote a beauti-
ful copy of the Koran for him. 280 Sultan Ahmad himself, who had
also studied taHiq, wrote both Koran copies and album pages. One
day in 1 136/1725 he assembled all the masters of calligraphy to show
< them the album of his own calligraphy; the two leading poets of the
age, Vehbi and Nedim, immediately extemporized chronograms, and
several calligraphers followed suit with their chronograms and verses,
for “Mercury, the scribe star, himself came down to look at this al-

bum and found the lofty lines « . . worthy to be hung from the
highest sky.” 291 Sultan Ahmad III wrote a fine mirrored basmala %m
and apparently made it a point to send at least one piece of jail
calligraphy to each major mosque in Istanbul. 293 Remarkable is the
inscription for his mother's tomb in Uskiidar, which consists of the
Prophetic tradition: “Paradise lies under the feet of mothers.”

Even though Sultan Mehmed, son of Ahmad, is credited with
having copied a number of Korans, 294 there is little evidence of out-
standing artistic activity among the rulers of the eighteenth century.

Invocation of the Prophet Muhammad, written by the Ottoman Sul-
tan Mahmud II about 1838

But with Mahmud II (d. 1839), otherwise noted for his political re-
forms, a master of the craft once more occupied the Ottoman throne.
He received his ijdza from Mehrnet Vasfi for a fine hilya, but the
influence of Mustafa Raqim, the master of large decorative writing,
is also visible in his writing. He is credited with “one of the finest
tablets in jail thuluth ever written” in Turkey. 29 * Finally, the sources
mention Sultan c Abdul Majid, who died in 1861 at the age of forty
and, despite a rather lascivious private life, now and then found
time to write beautiful calligraphies, some of which are found in
mosques of Istanbul He was granted the ijdza for thuluth by c Izzet
Efendi. 29 * And it is no accident that the useful little book by Habib,
Khatt u Khattdtdn , was dedicated to Sultan c Abdul Hamid in
1305/1887.

Kings and dervishes were equally fond of calligraphy, an art that
enabled them to adorn the Word of God most beautifully and that
inspired them to create an artistic equilibrium between the content

of a Persian or Turkish verse and its delicate calligraphic line, a line
in which the music of the verse and the music of the line are har-
moniously blended. When I bn al-Bawwab, the master calligrapher
of the late tenth and early eleventh centuries, died, a poet wrote a
dirge on him:

The scribes must have had a premonition that they would lose you,
and that this day would be spent in weeping*

That is w r hy the inkwell was filled with black, as if il
were mourning you, and the pens were split * 297

But while all of calligraphy, for one moment, seemed to mourn its
great master, the calligraphers did not remain in this state. For as
hard as the path to perfection was and even though few had reached
the heights that Ibn al-Bawwab, Yaqut, Sultan- c Ali, or Hafiz Osman
had attained, yet every calligrapher must have felt— as a consolation
in the days of repeating the same letter thousands of times — what a
seventeenth -century writer in Sind expressed in a short line:

Everyone who lives through the Water of Life of the pen,

will not die, but remain alive as long as life exists . 298

lam-alif in plaited decorative Kufi, from the border of a Koran, fif-
teenth century

Polisher of paper and Scribe, from the border of the Jahangir Al-
bum, India, ca, 1615. Courtesy of the Freer Gallery of Art, Smith-
sonian Institution, Washington, IX C.

Page from a Koran (Sura 24, verses 32-36), written on vellum in
m&'il script. By permission of the British Library, MS. Or. 2165, f.
67 b.j eig hth century

The profession of faith in its Shiite form, in extremely plaited Kufb
Around it Koranic inscriptions in thuluth. Isfahan, Masjid-i Jami%
Mihrab of Oljaitu, 1307

Page from an album in nastaHiq, written by Mir c Ali during his stay
in Bukhara* ca. 1585-40. Courtesy of the Fogg Art Museum* Har-
vard University* Cambridge* Mass.

Diploma (ijciza) for a Turkish calligrapher* c Ali Ra'if Efendi, by two
master calligraphers* dated 1206/1796. Reproduced from the Col-
lections of the Library of Congress* Washington, D. C.

Sura 112 written in circular form, fa ye nee. Mehmet Sokoliu Mosque,

Istanbul, seventeenth century. Photo Eduard Widmer, Zurich

? /

Firman of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet III, dated 1599. 373 cm by
55,5 cm Tughra, text in duvani script StaatHche Museen Preus-
sisther Kulturbesitz, Museum fur Islamische Kunst f Berlin

Par viz Tanavoli, Beech and Chair III f Iran, 1973

Various forms of ha* in naskh calligraphy on an exercise sheet, Cour-
tesy of the Fogg Art Museum, Harvar d University, Cambridge, M ass.

Peacock whose tail is made of divani calligraphy, containing blessings
for an Ottoman ruler* Turkey, ca. 1700* From the “Bellini- Album*”
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Louis V. Bell Fund, 1967

Anthropomorphic and zoomorphic letters from a canteen in metal,
Syria, mid-thirteenth century, Mosul school* Courtesy of the Freer
Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D* C.

Page From an anthology of poetry in nastaHtq script. The script is
cut out and pasted on the paper. Iran or Turkey, 16. century. The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gilt o£ Mrs, Lacey W. Drexcf 1 8 89

i 1

Ill

Calligraphy
and Mysdcism

'By Nun and ihe Fen’ and by the honor of the illiterate Prophet
but lor whom the Pen would not have been created!"'

More than any other religion, Islam stresses the importance of the
Book and is in fact the first religion in which the distinction between
the ahl al-kitab and those without a written revelation was clearly
stated to form part of its legal system.

Yet, the bearer of this message, Muhammad the Prophet, is called
in the Koran umml, which came to be interpreted as “unlettered” or
“one who needs no learning,” because for the preservation of the
true essence of the Divine message, for the “in lib ration” of God (as
Harry Wolfson calls it), the Prophet’s mind had to be absolutely pure,
just as Mary had to be a virgin to become the vessel of incarnation.
For this reason the mystics loved to dwell on the illiteracy of the
Prophet; and as proud as they were of the revealed Book, they also
realized that letters might be a veil between themselves and the im-

mediate experience of the Divine, for which the mind and the heart
have to he like a blank page. Muhammad is therefore praised in
ever changing images;

The orphan, who recites the Koran without lesson,
drew the line of abolition [naskh, or “a line of naskh calligraphy”]
over the ancient pages, 2

for the message which he brought abrogated all previous revela-
tions.

However, this message itself, the Koran, abounds in allusions to
writing. At the very beginning of the revelation, in Sura 96, God
appears as He “who taught man by the pen,” and the first words of
Sura 68 read: “Nun, and by the Pen!” This sentence has inspired
poets and mystics throughout the centuries and is alluded to in many
verses, all the more as the last three verses of this sura are recited
against the evil eye.

Everything, the Koran holds, has been written from all eternity
on the lauh al-mahfuz, the Well-preserved Tablet, by means of the
preexistent Pen. Such formulations led of necessity to discussions
about predestination and free will, and they color the religious his-
tory of early Islam. “The Pen has already dried up,” says a tradition
that was quoted in defense of the idea that whatever had been de~
creed in preeternity cannot be changed. Maulana Rumi, who felt
that such an interpretation would be dangerous for man’s develop-
ment and hamper him on his way to higher levels of spiritual prog-
ress, interpreted the saying differently. The fact that the Pen has
dried up does not mean that everything is preordained but rather
that there is written once and for all that good actions will be recom-
pensed while sins will be punished; this is the unchangeable rule
according to which man should act/* flier e is also another tradition:
when the Pen was about to write down the punishment for the dis-
obedient Muslims who were going to hell, a terrible voice came,
shouting, “Behave, O Pen!” and from fear the Pen was split — which
is why every pen has to he split in order to write. 4

Since, according to general belief, all man’s actions are written on
the Tablet, in Islamic languages fate is generally termed maktub,
“written,” or “wr itten on the forehead ” — mrnivisht or aim yazisi, in

Persian and Turkish, respectively. The lines engraved on man’s face
could then be interpreted as telling of his fate, as constituting, as it
were, the title page of his destiny, which could be deciphered by
those with insight. The warrior-poet Khushhal Khan Khatak says in
a fine Pashto quatrain that “the true men of God in this world read
from the tablet of the forehead the script of the heart/’ 5

Poets have often complained that the “writers of pre-eternity” have
written the fate of lovers in black 6 or considered the image of die
beloved they carry in their minds as drawn by the pen of destiny on
the tablet of their heart, 7 Over and over have suffering lovers cried
out like Sassui in Shah c Abdul Latif’s Sindh i verse;

Had I known that the disaster of separation would befall me,

I would have washed off the writing of destiny in the very begin-
ning! 8

But mystically inclined writers would rather agree with Ruzbihan
Baqli, who saw the Pen of the decision (fatwd) of pain take the ink
of loving friendship from the inkwell of ecstatic experience to write
letters of love on the heart of the lovers. s

For a rebel poet like Ghalib the “writing on the forehead” is the
mark left by the prostration before his idol, 10 (In Islam the dark
mark on the forehead caused by frequent prostrations is regarded
as a sign of special piety; see Sura 48/29.) And how should man not
act improperly, munharif (lit., “slanted”), when the Pen that wrote
his fate was cut in a crooked way? 11

I he Pen, which was able to write everything on the Tablet, is,
according to a Prophetic tradition, the first thing that God created. 12
For the Sufi theoreticians and some philosophers it was therefore at
times regarded as the symbol of the First Intellect or, rather, the
First Intellect itself. Ibn c Arabi, combining this idea with the begin-
ning of Sura 68, Nun wa'l-qalam, speaks of an angel called an-Nunf
who is “the personification of the First Intellect in its passive aspect
as the container of all knowledge.” 1 ® That corresponds to the com-
mon interpretation of nun as the primordial inkwell, to which its
shape indeed can be compared. 14 The fifteenth-century Shia thinker
lbn Abi Jumhur , who closely follows Ibn c Arabfs system, considers
the Divine Throne, the Pen, the Universal Intellect, and the pri-

mum mobile as one and the same, 15 whereas much earlier the Ikh-
wan as- Safa had interpreted c aql (Intellect) as God's 'book written
by His Hand" and developed a whole mythology of the heavenly
Book and the Pen . 1 * It is, therefore, not surprising that calligra-
phers would regard their own profession as highly sacred, since it
reflects, in some way, the actions of the Primordial Pen. as a Persian
writer says:

The world found name and fame from the Pen;

11 the Pen were not there, there would not be the world*

Anyone who did not get a share from the Pen —

Don't think that he is noble in the eyes of the intelligent. 17

Besides speaking of the mystery of Pen and 1 ablet, the Koran
places man's whole lif e under the sign of writing. Did not God make
the angels act as scribes? There is no moment that the kirdm ka.tibm,
the noble scribe-angels (Sura 83/11), do not sit on man's shoulders
to note down alt his actions and thoughts, and on Doomsday finally
his book will be presented, more or less filled with black letters. 1 *
For this reason the calligrapher Ibn al-Bawwab instructs the adept
in his rhymed epistle to write only good words:

For all the acts of man will meet him tomorrow,

When he meets his outspread book! 11 '

But since most ink is soluble in water, Persianate poets who were
afraid lest their songs about wine and love might have blackened
the book of their actions too much found the solution— tears of re-
pentance will wash off the pages. Rarely would a rebel poet claim
that he was no longer afraid of the Day of Judgment because

1 have blackened the page so much that it cannot be read! 20

an allusion to the mashq in which letter over letter, line upon line,
fills the page and makes it finally illegible. (Rumi too speaks of writ-
ing one text on top of another.) 21

It was the letters of the Koran that became the true sign of the
victory of Islam wherever the Muslims went, and when they were

adopted by peoples with non-Semitic languages they endowed these
idioms with some of the haraka that Arabic and its letters bear, ow-
ing to their role as vessels for the revelation. It therefore became
incumbent upon the pious to write the Divine Word as beautifully
as possible and, as an often quoted hadith promises, “He who writes
the basmala beautifully obtains innumerable blessings” or “will enter
Paradise,” 22 Indeed, a famous calligrapher appeared after bis death
to a friend in a dream to tell him that his sins were forgiven because
he had written the basmala so well. 2 5

1’he Arabic script of the Koran is therefore the most precious
treasure for the Muslim, As a modern T urkish author writes, “Even
though foreign artists could build mosques, yet they could not write
a copy of the Koran. Calligraphers have been regarded as destined
for Paradise for writing the Koran, while painters who wrote "the
script of the infidels/ that is painting, were considered food for
Hell/ 124 Although the Prophet himself had employed some non-
Musiims as teachers of writing, certain orthodox Muslims regarded
it as — to say the least- abhorrent to show reverence to a non-Muslim
teacher of calligraphy, as our best Ottoman source states. 25 The same
attitude is expressed in Mustaqimzade’s remark that neither the Ko-
ran nor a hadith should be written on European (firangi) paper A*

Since the Arabic letters are the badge of identity for the Muslim
peoples, a break with this tradition is completely different from an
exchange of Roman letters, in the West, for another alphabet. The
example of Turkey, where the Arabic script was given up in 1928,
is well known, and ii may be that one facet of the numerous tensions
that eventually led to the breakup of Pakistan was that fact that Ben-
gali, contrary to the West Pakistani languages that use the Arabic
alphabet, is written in a Sanskrit- based alphabet (although some or-
thodox circles tried to introduce the “letters of the Koran” for this
language too).

The all-embracing character of the Arabic letters contributed
greatly to the feeling of unity among Muslims, Allusions to the Ar-
abic alphabet were understood by everyone who was able to l ead,
and the idea of an early Sufi t hat “there is no letter which does not
worship God in a language” 27 furnished mystics and poets with al-
most unlimited possibilities for interpreting the letters and discov-
ering ever new meanings in them, which in turn were expressed by

artistic means. Did not the Koran itself state: “And if all the trees
on earth became pens, and all the oceans ink, the words of thy Lord
would not he exhausted” (Sura 31/28)?

Owing to the sacred character of Arabic letters, anything written
in them has to be treated carefully. As in the Christian and Jewish
traditions, one finds Muslim, and particularly Sufi, stories about
people who picked up each scrap of paper with Arabic letters be-
cause the name of God or a sacred word might be written on it, the
baraka of which should not be destroyed, 28 Perhaps even some of
the early Kufic Koran s were, as Martin Lings thinks, meant to be
contemplated like icons to partake of their baraka rather than to be
read, 2SJ (The example of a Turkish kdfiz who refused to learn Arabic
grammar because “the Koran is not Arabic,” but rather a sacred
object in itself, immediately comes to mind.)' 10 The reverence for
the written word, in which the illiterate villager participates as much
as the scholar or the calligrapher, permeates Muslim life and be-
comes visible in the minute inscriptions on seals and bezels as well
as in the enormous Koranic inscriptions that were arranged between
the minarets of Ottoman mosques in Ramadan where they would
be illuminated to make the Divine Word shine in the darkness. 31

Since calligraphy thus was regarded as a sacred art, connections
between calligraphers and Sufis were natural. In both traditions, the
silsila goes back to c Ali, the first calligrapher in the Kufic style. A
nineteenth-century Turkish verse extends the relations between the
Koran and the four righteous caliphs even more:

Siddiq Abu Bakr read the sent-down book;

c Omar stitched its binding and cover;

c Othman wrote it in the right sequence and kept it;

LAli gilded and decorated its pages. 32

Contrary to this outspokenly Sunni statement* Shia artists would
rather maintain that the fourth and eighth imams had been callig-
raphers. 33

The sacred character of calligraphy becomes evident in popular
traditions and legends, which are very Sufi in character. Thus, the
pious Mustaqimzade teaches that in order to acquire good hand-
writing one should first recite a fdtiha (Sura !) for the soul of Shaykh

Hamdullah, the greatest Turkish calligrapher, then look at his writ-
ings, and then begin one's exercise. Even more powerful is the fol-
lowing method:

Cut a fresh pen for thuluth and naskh ? wrap them in paper, take
two fingers deep dust out from Shaykh Hamdullah’s tomb, re-
cite the blessing over the Prophet and the glorification; then
bury them in a Friday night [at the masters tomb]. After one
week take them out, and whenever you begin to practice, write
the first line with them, then the rest with other pens * 34

To dream of meaningful letters that then would be explained ac-
cording to their literal, mystical, and numerical value by the mystical
guide was apparently quite common among calligraphers, as is shown
by the story of a Turkish calligrapher who saw himself practicing
with the great master Rasim. T he dream-lesson ended with the let-
ters alif } sin , and ha and was interpreted in complicated ways to mean
that on the sixty- ninth day he would become the calligraphy teacher
of the sultan— which, of course, came true . 35

All life was permeated with love of Arabic letters* The beginning
ol learning for a traditional Muslim child is the hismillah ceremony
in which the boy (at age four years, four months, and four days) is
taught the formula Bismill&hi 'r-rahm&ni r-rakim “In the name of God
the Compassionate the Merciful,” which was sometimes written with
a sweet liquid on a slate which the child had to lick off. His entering
into the world of the Holy Book was then duly celebrated . 36 For the
eighteen letters of the basmala contain, among other tilings, an al-
lusion to the eighteen thousand worlds, and the bd f of bism points to
the bairn Allah (God's splendor), its sin to sand 9 Allah (God's sublimity),
and it 5 mm to mamlakat Allah (God's kingdom ). 37

If the child was artistically minded, he would not only learn the
suras required for his daily prayers but also copy at least parts of
the Koran in order to acquire merit— as the Buddhist monks would
copy thousands of pages of the Pali canon ; 38 as the writer of the
Torah would give all his religious emotion to the production of im-
maculate letters on the scroll; or as Christian monks would devote
their time to producing beautiful copies of the psalms or the missal;
and as painters, in a more correct parallel to the calligraphers of the

Koran, would never tire of interpreting the mystery of the incarna-
tion in pictures.

Therefore, people would sometimes write a copy of the Holy Book
in order to expiate their sins. Thus, Bada'uni tried by this means to
obtain forgiveness for his participation in the translation of Hindu
epics as ordered by Akbar, and a medieval Arab poet who "had an
inclination to write satires" eventually repented and spent the rest
of his life copying Korans. 30

The letters of the Koran, even when detached, carry a sanctity of
their own. Often letters or holy phrases are duplicated, mirrored,
and used as ornamentation. In many families one finds vessels with
Koranic quotations that were filled with water to be used in case of
illness, 40 or one would wash off the ink from scraps of Koranic verses
or prayers and have the ailing person drink the water. In Shiite
environments such as Iran and parts of India one often finds that
these vessels also contain the invocation to c A I i (nodi c Aliy an mazhar
al- c aja’ib) y “Call c A!i, the locus of manifestation of wonderful things*’
which was considered very powerful. The Koranic quotation used
for apotropaic purposes is usually the throne verse (Sura 2/256),
but the line Nasrun min Allah wa fathun qanh "Help from God and
near victory" (Sura 61/13) is often found as well. Even seemingly
meaningless, unconnected letters can convey some blessing, pro-
vided they have been written with the proper intention by a skilled
amulet maker; and inscriptions on metalwork, which often consist
of mere fragments of blessing formulas, may still bear the haraka of’
the full prayer. 41

One finds whole dresses or coats covered with Koranic verses, or
even with the complete text of the Koran, worn by soldiers. 42 This
was common in India where an eighteenth-century poet alludes to
this custom;

Like that gown in which the sura of the Koran is woven,

the fabric of beauty is venerable due to the khatt [“script/down”]. 43

Weapons bear Koranic inscriptions that sometimes allude to the
owner’s name (as in the case of Sulayman the Magnificent, an allu-
sion to Solomon’s power mentioned in Sura 27). 44 Pilgrims’ banners
were embroidered with sacred texts as were tomb covers, in which

Talisman in West African Maghribi from Nigeria with the names of
the Seven Sleepers and Qitmir

sometimes the Prophet was invoked and blessed — an indication of
the owner's hope for the Prophet's intercession on Doomsday, 45 That
inscriptions in religious buildings often contain a unity of intent is
well attested: the Koranic sayings in the Dome of the Rock in rejec-
tion of the Trinity 46 are as meaningful as the constantly repeated
motto of the Nasrid kings in the Alhambra, Wa Id ghdliba ilia Allah
(“And there is no victor save God”). Inscriptions in mausoleums
speaking of heavenly bliss belong to this category.

Besides the Koran, the traditions of the Prophet were also con-
sidered to be full of baraka, and therefore the classical collections of
hadith as well as Busiri's Burda — the superb Arabic ode in honor of
the Prophet— were copied time and again, sometimes with interlin-
ear translations or paraphrases. Not only would the calligrapher ac-
quire merit by writing this poem, but he would also be protected
against fire and illness, according to popular belief. 47 And while the
Burda was one of the favorite models of calligraphy in Mamluk
Egypt, Turkish calligraphers never tired of writing the kilya-i sherif,
the qualities of the Prophet, in the form standardized in the seven-
teenth century. 48

The use of the names of God; of the Prophet; or, in Shiite envi-
ronments, of c Ali, in rectangular Kufi, adds to the sanctity of reli-
gious buildings; and the words of the shahada or the names of al-
Q ashara al-mubaskshara (the ten to whom paradise was promised) 49 in
squared Kufi convey blessing to the onlooker, as do the circular
plaques, common in Turkey, with the names of the Seven Sleep-
ers. 50

And should not the final verses of Sura 68, the formula against
the evil eye, be particularly effective when written in the shape of
an arrow? 51

Another form of expressing one’s trust in the sanctity of certain
books is to take prognostication from them. 52 Consulting not only
the Koran by opening it at random but also the Divan of Hafiz and
Rumi’s Malhnawt is still very popular in the eastern Islamic world,
and I know families in India and Pakistan who would never choose
a name for their newborn child without having recourse to the Ko-
ran or to Hafiz.

All these dif ferent aspects of sacred writing explain why the mys-
tics, and following them the poets, have developed a special vocab-
ulary tinged with allusions to the Koran and the art of writing. One

of the most famous examples is the first line of Ghalib’s Urdu Divan
in which he cries out:

The picture— of the daring of whose writing does it complain?

From paper is the shirt of every figure!

That means that every human being is a letter written by the Pri-
mordial Pen, either beautifully or crooked, which stands on fine
parchment or on brittle or coarse paper, and is put in relation to
other letters, which it may or may not like* This idea was common
with medieval writers, but Ghalib ingeniously combined it with the
paper shirt, which was the dress of complainants at court during the
Middle Ages . 53 Since a letter becomes visible only when written on
some material, preferably paper, it is, so to speak, wearing a paper
shirt and appears thus as a complainant against the Eternal Writer
and His Pen. Seven hundred years before Ghalib, his compatriot in
Delhi, Amir Khusrau, had expressed the same idea but had re-
signed himself to the will of the Eternal Calligrapher-Painter* with
whom letter or picture cannot quarrel 54

In a different interpretation, man himself becomes the pen, for
the hadith says: “Man's heart is between two of God’s fingers, and
He turns il as He pleases /’ 55 Therefore, Rumi sings of the Divine
Calligrapher who writes with the heart of the lover, now a z t now an
r, and cuts the pen of the heart in different ways to write either
riqd z or naskh or any other style — and the heart-pen says only, “Tas-
llm [I gladly accept]— you know who ! am .” 56 Rumi loved this im-
agery and repeats it several times in the Divan.

My heart is like the pen in your hand — -
from you comes my joy and my despair ! 57

or:

We are the pen in that master’s hand;
we ourselves do not know where we are going/™

And as the pen, according to an old saying, “sheds tears and at the
same time smiles most beautifully ,” 59 man should do the same while
moved by the hand of God. Since the pen has to be nicely trimmed,

the mystic, longing for suffering and death in the path of the Bo
loved, exclaims:

When you say, “I shall cut off your head!"

T shall run on my head out of joy like the pen! 611

c Auar, who wrote this verse, describes the true lover, whose duty it
is,

like the pen, with cut-off tongue,

to turn his head on the tablet of annihilation. 61

Rumi goes even further and says, with a clever allusion to Sura 68:

When you are like a nun in genuflexion, and like a pen in prostra-
tion,

Then you will be joined, like Nun lual-qalam, with ‘and what they
write," 62

that is, with the Divine Order.

The imagery of writing served the Sufis well to describe the act of
creation. Famous is Rumi’s delightful story in t he Mathnawi in which
he describes the little ant who walked on a beautifully written man-
uscript— probably a fine illuminated copy of the Koran— and ex-
cLaimed full of amazement:

What wonderful pictures this reed has made,
like sweet basil and a garden of lilies and roses! 63

But the little ant has to learn that it was not the pen that had created
these lovely forms hut rather the hand and again not the hand hut
the mind, and so forth, until it reached the first cause of all action,
that is God. The story is found, in less poetical but still very impres-
sive words, in Ghazzali’s Ihya c utum ad-din in the chapter on tawakkul
(trust in God), 64 which probably inspired Rumi’s verse.

The mystery of creation is explained differently, though again in
the imagery of writing, by the Persian Shiite mystic Haydar-i Amuli
(d. 1385):

Letters written with ink do not really exist qua letters, for the
letters are but various forms to which meanings have been as-
signed through convention. What really and concretely exists is
nothing but the ink. The existence of the letters is in truth no
other than the existence of the ink, which is the sole, unique
reality that unfolds itself in many Forms of self-modification.
One has to cultivate, first of all, die eye to see the selfsame real-
ity of ink in all letters, and then to see the letters as so many
intrinsic modifications of the ink. 65

The idea certainly goes back to Ihn c Arabi, who expressed the view:

We were lofty letters not yet pronounced,
latent in the highest peaks of the hills*

I was you in Him, and we were you and you were He
and the whole is He in Him — -ask those who have attained.

A seventeenth-century Javanese commentator on these verses, which
were apparently widely discussed among the Sufis, explains the re-
lations between the various aspects of being by stating that the aha-
diyya is like a blank sheet of paper, the wahdat (which can be equated
with the haqiqa muhmnmadiyya) like a mark on the paper. The xmhi-
diyya, then, is symbolized

by a nalif or any other letter f ormed from the mark. Each letter
is an expression and fulfillment [of the potentialities] of the
mark; it is not it from the standpoint of determination, not other
than it from the standpoint of being. This mark, which does
not exist apart from the blank sheet, represents wahdat, for all
letters, however manifold, are combined within it: and it is dis-
played in each of them according to its receptivity* 66

1 he mark, or dot, is certainly to be understood as pertaining to that
point by which the letters are measured; thus, the image gains ad-
ditional depth by truly translating the technique of calligraphy into
a symbol of eternity*

c Abdur-Ra*uf of Singket, who wrote these lines, gives still another

illustration of the secret of unity and multiplicity, which is close to
Haydar-i Amuli’s formulation:

Another illustration may be taken from the twenty-eight letters
of the alphabet. When they are hidden in ink they are ink; when
they are on the point of the pen, they are the point of the pen;
but when they are written upon a tablet they are different both
from the ink and the pen. 67

Long before him, Kami had expressed the secret of unity and di-
versity, which is solved in loving union, by the verse:

When I write a letter to my Friend,
paper and pen and inkwell is He! 6 *

The letters are the expression of something of a higher order.
The thinkers and literati generally mused on the relations between
the written word and its hidden meaning, whereas the mystics' ex-
perience of the letters of the Arabic alphabet was that they had a
very special quality; Some writers even assumed that the spiritual
counterparts, the “angels” of the letters, might appear to the pious
calligrapher, who then might visualize the alif with its initial flourish
as “an angel with a heard.” 69 Louis Massignon has drawn the atten-
tion of scholars to the threefold value system of the Semitic alpha-
bets, among which Arabic is the most perfect* The letters can be
seen as phonetic signs; they have a semantic value; and they also
have an arithmetic value. 70

In the first instance, it was the detached letters at the beginning
of twenty-nine suras that inspired Muslim thinkers to construct a
complicated system of relations and combinations, Rumi calls these
letters “signs of divine activity, resembling the rod of Moses which
contains in itself mysterious qualities.” 71 Did not these mysterious
letters, which appear singly, or in groups of two, three, four, or five,
add up to 14 in number, that is, exactly half of the letters of the
alphabet? And these letters were thought to correspond to the 28
lunar mansions* The unconnected Koranic letters w f ere considered
as nurdniyya (luminous), because they express those mansions w r hich

are visible above the horizon of Yemen, while the others correspond
to the mansions beneath the horizon. 72

Among the unconnected letters, the a-l-m at the beginning of Sura
2 and Suras 29-32 particularly inspired the mystics. Did it mean
Alldk-lattf (subtle, kind) — majid (glorious)? Or did it mean Allah and
Muhammad, connected by Gabriel, who appears here as/? Or does
it point to the three modes of prayer— the alif being the upright
position, the 1dm the genuflexion, and the mim the prostration? Or —
so profane poets would ask— was it not an allusion to the stature*
the curls, and the mouth of the beloved that, in turn, caused them
alam (pain)? A sectarian interpretation might deduct from the nu-
merical value of the three letters 1, 30, and 40, totaling 71, an allu-
sion to the 71 sects that will perish, while the Shia is the 72nd, the
group that is saved. 73 In the (ahd of Sura 20 the interpreters saw an
address to the Prophet, meaning fakir (pure) and hadt (guiding) and,
since the numerical value of these letters is 9 plus 5 equals 14, they
could easily find here an allusion to the full moon on the 14th night,
to which the Prophet was often compared and that he even sur-
passes in radiance. 74 Tdihd was seen as expressing Muhammad's as-
pect as natiq, teaching people the mystery of primordial purity; ydsln
(at the beginning of Sura 36) showed him as the Prophet who
preaches the Holy War; both letter groups are therefore used as
proper names as substitutes for Muhammad, 75

The isolated letters were used to predict historical events, such as
the duration of the c Abbasid caliphate, and it is a strange coinci-
dence that the letters fastn, in the old numerical system, give the sum
309, which is not only the number of the years the Seven Sleepers
spent in the cave but also the date of the execution of al-Hallap the
tide of whose most provocative book, the Kitdb at-tawdsln , was taken
from these very letters.

The mystics and the early Shia thinkers, including the Ikhwan as-
Safa, pondered the fact that nowhere are more than five letters
found at the beginning of the suras; 70 and the two pentads, k-m- c -s-
q and k-h-y- Q -$, offered them much room for interpretation. Was not
Islam founded on 5? There are five daily prayers, five types of aims,
five pillars of faith, but also the PanjUrn (i.e., the five members of
the Prophet's family), five legislating prophets, five planets, and so
on. 77

Out of such speculations the art of jafr developed very early; 7H its
invention is usually attributed to Ja c far as-Sadiq, the sixth imam,
and, just as the mysteries of the unconnected letters were to be veiled
from the uninitiated, the art of jafr was to be handed down only
through the descendants of Fatima. One could use jafr for prognos-
tication. It was probably first connected w f ith apocalyptic specula-
tions about the return of the hidden imam and similar events, 79 but
then it grew into an art of its own in which one could mix letters
and their numerical value to produce one name instead of another
name that one wanted to hide (an art that, on the profane plane, was
very popular in the riddles on names which are known at least since
early c Abbasid days). Words of equal numerical value could be re-
garded as near identical. My Turkish friends used to explain the
frequent use of tulips in Turkish decorative art by the fact that tu-
up, Idle, has the same numerical value as Allah and as filial, the cres-
cent and symbol of Islam, namely 66. In jafr one could combine the
letters composing a Divine Name “with those of the name of the
object desired" or substitute the letters of a word by a manipulation
in which the first and the last, the second and the second to last
letters were interchanged, and so on. In order to guarantee success
for certain prayers, each Divine Name had to he repeated according
to the numerical value of its letters, that is, Allah 66 times, quddus
199 limes.

These cabalistic techniques were much more prominent in Sufi
practice than is usually realized: Does not the numerical value of
the complete profession of faith, 619, exactly add up to that of kkat-
tdt (calligrapher) and its second half, Muhammad rasul Allah — 454,
adds up to the word al-kdiib (the scribe)? m In the 1950s in Turkey
many upper-middle-class people still used the Koran as written by
Hafiz Osman and often printed in facsimile for speculation, not re-
alizing that the number of letters and words on the pages in this
Koran is certainly not identical with that of other, let alone of the
first: Kufi, copies of the Holy Book, In the sect of the Nurcus, the
jafr still plays a certain role.

Along with these techniques goes the hisdb al-jummal (gematria),
in which the letters are combined with elements, stars, and the like.
Each of the four elements corresponds to seven letters in the se-
quence of abjad so that the first, fifth, ninth (etcetera) letters would

he related to fire; the group beginning with ha to air; the group
beginning with jtm to water; and the final group, beginning with dal,
to earth. The letters could thus be used in magic and in astrological
predictions and may have influenced letter imagery in general. 81

How common it was among the mystically minded Muslims of the
ninth and tenth centuries to have recourse to mystical interpretation
of’ individual letters may be understood from Avicenna's philosoph-
ical alphabet by which he, partly deviating from the accepted Shia-
I smail i interpretation, showed his own philosophical views. In an
Ismaili alphabet discovered by Henry Corbin the sequence of the
first ten letters is as follows:

alif: al~amr t the Divine Order

bd: al- z aql, Intellect

jtm: an-nafs, Soul

dal: at-tabi c a, Nature

ha: hayuld. Material Substance

wdw: al-jism , the body

zd: al-aflak, the spheres

ha: ai-tahd’i Q al-arba c a, the four humors

yd: al-mawalzd , the nativities 82

It thus gives a descending sequence leading from God to the lowest
earthly manifestations, which is a logical outgrowth of Ismaili doc-
trine. I bn Sina, on the contrary, begins his alphabet with alif as al-
hard (The Creator in Himself) and follows the traditional sequence
unto dal; a second tetrad from he to ha contains the same concepts
in relation to others, and the higher letters are explained in terms
of their numerical value (2 times 5, or by adding up the numerical
values of other letters). Thus, qaf] with the value of 100, would con-
sist of sin, 90, and yd, 10, and means "‘the gathering of everything
on the creatorial plane". I bn Sina interprets the unconnected letters
of the Koran in much the same way: Nun waH-qalam means, then,
“an oath by the world of existeiUialization and that of creation ”
which is “everything.” 83

M assign on has accused I bn Sina of having invented an artificial
system against the traditional one, but tendencies to develop such
new interpretations of the Arabic alphabet have remained common

to our day. And the mystical interpretation of each and every letter
is a special feature of Islamic literature. There is even an interpre-
tation of the alphabet in the Indian Sanskrit-based sequence devel-
oped in a branch of the Chishti-Sabiri order (see Appendix A). 84

It is particularly th calif ? with the numerical value 1, that has never
ceased to intrigue the mystics. Standing tall and unconnected at the
beginning of the definite article as at the beginning of the word
Allah, it is the Divine letter par excellence, as Hallaj said:

The Koran contains the knowledge of everything. Now the sci-
ence of the Koran is in its initial letters; the science of the initial
letters is in the Idm-alf the science of the Idm-alif is in the alif
and that of the alif is in the point. 85

In Hallaj’s system the point or dot is the primordial dot, which we
have already encountered as the basis of creation, but it is also the
dot in the calligraphic system of Ibn Muqla, which was developed
during Hallaj’s lifetime*

Since alif is the letter of Unity and Unicity, the true faqir who has
annihilated himself in perfect poverty and love can be compared to
it:

Known for lack of silver and famous for lack of bread,
like a Kufic afc/ in nudity and nakedness. 86

Thus says Sana’h and two centuries later Yunus Em re in Anatolia
compares the erenler, the men of God, to alifs : they are, like this
letter, dydt-i bayyindt (signs of clear proof). 87 Alif points to God who
“is the alif, the one who has connected {allafa ) all things and yet is
isolated from all things," as Sahl at-Tustari stated in the late ninth
century. 88 Some decades earlier, Muhasibi had invented a fine myth
to explain the high position of alif: “When God created the letters
he ordered them to obey. All letters were in the shape of alif but
only the alif kept its form according to the image in which it was
created/' 89 c Attar took up this idea in his Uskturndma:

This alif was first one in the origin;

Then it produced the numbers of connection.

When it becomes crooked it is counted as a dal,

When it puts another bent upon itself,

Then it becomes a rd f o ignorant one!

When the alif is bent like a reed,

Then its both ends become crooked, and it is a bd;

When alif becomes a horseshoe, it is a nun. . . . m

That means that, just as everything came from God, who created
Adam *‘in His likeness/’ so the letters emerge from the alif which
corresponds to man, created in God's likeness; but it is also true in
general calligraphic terminology because of the similarity of the alif
to a standing person and its role as the invariable point of relation
for all other letters.

For Rumi, the alif w r as honored by being the first letter of the
alphabet because of its unity and sincerity, and the lover who emu-
lates it by becoming endowed with Divine attributes will be the first
in line as well , 91

But one should also not forget that in the formula hismilldh the
alif of ism disappears in writing between the bd and the sin, and
therefore Sana! expressed the secret of complete annihilation by
comparing the mystic to “the alif of bism.”® 2 Two centuries later, the
Kubrawi leader Isfara’ini saw the “hidden alif 7 of the bism pointing
to the alif of Islam, “which is hidden in the hearts of the faithful w r ho
have attained unity. 5 ' Sana’i knew well:

With the alif there come bd and td —

regard b and ; as idols (but)* and alif as Allah . 94

Therefore, the alif was the only letter that was absolutely necessary
to know, for as Yunus Emre says:

The meaning of the four books is contained in one alif ^ 5

That is a simple statement to which most popular Sufi poets would
agree, but it was interpreted in the Hurufi tradition as meaning man,
w T ho in his stature resembles the alif and contains the entire meaning
of the revealed books in him.® e The poets never ceased using the
alif for the slender figure of the beloved, and when Hafiz says in
one of his most famous verses

There is on the tablet of my heart nothing but the alif of my
beloved’s stature —

What shall I do? My teacher gave me no other letter to
memorize! 97

one can interpret the line on the worldly level as pertaining to a
human beloved and, on the religious level, the alif as the cipher for
Allah. Many poets, particularly iri the popular tradition where book-
ish learning was despised, have therefore sung of the alif, the only
letter the moll as had taught them, which is enough for this life and
the next 9 * Why should they bother to read thousands of books or
“blacken the book of their actions” by reading and writing letters
that, as Qadi Qadan says, “suddenly appear like crocodiles”? 99 The
alif is the letter of Divine Wisdom and

From Love even the crooked dal becomes an alif \

as Rumi triumphantly sings. 100 When one adds to this plain state-
ment the idea that alif is a fiery letter and dal an earthy one, the
image of transformation through Love becomes even more perti-
nent*

It should also not be forgotten that in the isktiqdq kabir 101 of later
Shia circles the very name of alif with its numerical value 111 (1-
80-30) was understood as representing the triad Allah (alif: 1), Mu-
hammad (mm: 40), and c Ali ( c ayn: 70), whose sum total is again
111. 102

Respect for the alif was great in early Muslim thought, and one
understands why Ibn Hanbal condemned the claim of Sari as-Saqati,
his Sufi colleague in Baghdad, who stated that alif is the only letter
that did not prostrate itself at the time of the Covenant and is there-
fore the letter of Iblis, Satan, 103 (In fact, one of the strange aspects
of alif, for some Sufis, is that it is the initial letter of Allah, Adam,
and Iblis, thus containing a w r hole mythology in itself.)

But alif is also the first letter of Ahmad , the “heavenly” name of
the Prophet Muhammad* Jami elaborates this idea in the first eulogy
for the Prophet in his epic Tuhfat al-ahrdr , alluding to the fact that
the alif emerges from the dot, and that letters are measured by cir-
cles. He says;

The beginning of the foreword of this alphabet
Is the first letter which is in Ahmad:

When the dot of Unity showed its stature,

And became an alif for Ahmad’s sake,

The diameter of this upright alif

Cut the invisible circle of [divine] Ipseity into halves:

One half is the primordial world,

And the other half is the contingent world which looks toward non-
existence.

That means, Ahmad = Muhammad stands at the meeting-place
of the eternal and the contingent world, for he is the Perfect Man
in whom both are reflected.

Speculations about alif and other letters were so commonly known
in Islam that they could even be applied to religiopolitical facts.
During Jahangir’s time, Ahmad Sirhindi (d. 1624) in India claimed
that by the end of the first millennium after the Hegira, which had
just ended, the Prophet’s name had changed, its first mmi being re-
placed by an alif; Muhammad (mhmd) had become Ahmad (ahmd).
This shows that the practical, sociopolitical side of the Prophet's
teachings had been replaced by an all too otherworldly interpreta-
tion of Islam, so that some religious leader must bring back the mtm.
and restore the faith to its pristine dynamism. 104

The letter mtm has always been connected with the Prophet. The
two minis of his name point, as c Attar says, to the fact that “both
worlds” are from him, for Q dlam (the world) has only one mm in its
name* 105 Even more important in this connection is the name Ah-
mad , by which the Prophet w f as called in reference to his quality of
pmkleitos (the most praiseworthy) in Sura 61/5* At least from the
days of c Attar a hadith qudst became prominent in the eastern Islamic
world according to which God said, And Ahmad bild mtm (“I am Ah-
mad without the m, that is, Ahad y One”). 105 The mystics and the
majority of the poets in the eastern tradition understood this to mean
that it is only the letler mzm, the “shaw r l of humanity” as a Panjabi
Sufi calls it, 107 that separates Ahmad/Muhammad from God, the
One. Since the numerical value of mm is 40, later Sufis took this
hadith qudst to point to the 40 degrees of descent and ascent that
man has to pass on his way back to his origin in God* Some medieval

authors have interpreted the mim> in accordance with its round
shape, as the kkdtam an-nuhuwwa (seal of Prophethood ), 108 and
"everyone who wears a collar from this mini walks like the ringdove
constantly in the faith," as Amir Khusrau says , 109 Therefore, Baqii
sees the minis as “belonging to the waterwheels of the oceans of Love,
which have been from pre-eternity in the mystery of actions .” 110 It
is small wonder that the mim has inspired a modern calligrapher-
painter from Pakistan, Anwar S hemza, to create a meditative pic-
ture.

The letters alif and mint are connected with God and His Prophet,
respectively. This idea has recently been repeated in a mystical
interpretation according to which mtm is "the bell," as the medieval

_ r

mini in "bell shape”

authority on magic, al-Buni, found out. Its full shape indeed some-
what resembles a bell. The letter is therefore connected with the
sound of the bell the Prophet heard at times when the revelation
overcame him and thus appears as the letter of prophetic receptiv-
ity. It is, as Jean Gan terns says, la chute vers tabime and is connected
with the laylat al-qadr, the night of the first revelation of the Koran;
the alif, in the words of this contemporary French writer, is la chute
vers le del and thus corresponds to Muhammad’s heavenly journey
that led him into the immediate presence of God , 111 Again, in proto-
Ismailism, the connection between the imam c Ali, the "adopted child”
Salman aLFarisi, and the Prophet was expressed in speculations
about the letters c ayn, sin , and mim . 112

Alif and mim occur throughout the whole mystical and poetical
tradition, whereas the second letter of the alphabet, ba, is not so
frequently mentioned. Sometimes it is contrasted as a modest letter
with the proud alif; content with only one dot, it represents the
unassuming, broken heart 113 But in general it is the letter by which
creation begins. It can be connected with the letters to its left so that
w r ords can grow out of it, and in the Shia tradition c Ali is seen as
the dot beneath the bd f that is, the first manifestation of creation . 114
That fits well with its interpretation as "intellect" in the Shia and

philosophical tradition* the First Intellect being understood as the
energy that* emanating from the Divine Essence, set things in mo-
tion — as the dot in calligraphy is the starting point for the pen’s
movement.

This act of creation has been expressed by the mystics with the
symbol of the Divine Order kun (Be!) repeatedly mentioned in the
Koran, Its two letters, kdf and nun * could be seen as a two-colored
rope, as Rumi says — -a noose that deceives man so that he does not
perceive the colorless unity that lies behind the multitude of created
things . 115 A completely different interpretation of this creative Di-
vine Word is found in the work of the Pakistani artist Sadiqain* who
represents the letters kdf and nun as a grand spiral nebula out of
which the world emerges in stars and galaxies.

In the mystical tradition* the letter he plays a particularly impor-
tant role. It is the last letter of the word Allah * hence the letter of
huwiyya , the Divine He-ness or Ipseity. In the Sufi dhikr , especially in

hd\ the letter of Divine Ipseity

the dhikr of the shahada, the name Allah is finally dissolved until only
the k remains, which is also the sound of human breathing . 1 16 Very
typically* Ibn c Arabi saw the Divine Essence in the shape of a lu-
minous he, carrying between its two arms the word huwa (He) on a
radiant red background . 117 Many centuries later* the Naqshbandi
mystic Nasir Muhammad c Andalib in Delhi described the spiritual
way man has to go in his meditations as a journey through the word
Allah, beginning with the alif :

He sees the blessed figure of the word Allah in the color of light
written on the cablet of his heart and the mirror of his imagi-
nation. . . * Then he will understand himself as opposite to this
form or beneath it or at its right or left side* and he should
strive to bring himself toward this light* . * * And whenever he
finds himsel f in the middle of the rank of alif and lam, he must
proceed and take his place between the two lams and then walk
away from there and bring himself between the lam and the h;

and with high ambition he leaves this place too and sees himself
in the middle of the ringlet of the h. At the beginning he will
find his head in this ringlet, but eventually he will find that his
whole self has found repose in this house and will rest there
free from all afflictions and perilous calamities. 118

Rumi may have thought of a similar experience when he sings:

1 have emptied my side from both worlds,

I am sitting like an h beside the lam of Allah T 19

While the mystical content of the he was undisputed through the
centuries, the letter wdw was less frequently discussed, although
Najrnuddin Kuhra called it "the letter of connection between man
and God,” 120 taking up the normal grammatical designation of wdw
as harf al- c atf\ There is also a remark that it is "the ear of the
Prophet/’ 121 For reasons not yet completely clear, the Turks devel-
oped a great love for the wdw and used it from about 1700 onward
for decorative purposes. They may have been inspired by the nu-
merous wdws in the longer profession of faith, which w f as calli-

The longer Profession of Faith: “I believe in God AND in His angels
AND in His books AND in His messengers, AND in the Day of
Judgment, AND in the predestination that good AND evil comes
both from God, and in the resurrection. I witness that there is no
deity save God and that Muhammad is His servant and his messen-
ger." Written as a sequence of wdw by a Turkish calligrapher in the
early twentieth century

graphically often represented as a boat of salvation, with the wdws
serving as its oars (Amentu gemisi). The first calligrapher mentioned
as having drawn an enormous wdw in the mosque of Eyiip and in
the Eski Cami in Edirne was the somewhat eccentric c Abdallah. Vafa’i
(d. 1 141/1728), 122 The Turkish waw, as found on the walls of mos-
ques but also as independent little calligraphic paintings* are some-
times filled with flowers; look at the observer with big eyes; or, writ-
ten in mirror style, embrace each other. It has been speculated that,
since the numerical value of wdw is 6, the double wdw may point to
the twelve Shia imams; or, if one writes 6 6, they result in 66, the
numerical value of the word AlldhA 23 If one could surmise that the
speculations expressed in the cosmology of the Indian Sufis (see Ap-
pendix A) were known in Turkey, the solution would be easy* for
there wdw ? the last letter in their particular alphabet, corresponds to
the haqtqa m uha niniadiyya, the “archetypal Muhammad.” 124 Such
interpretations, however, are mere m usings, the correctness of which
cannot he proved.

A particularly important letter in the mystical tradition is the 1dm -
alif t originally a ligature but often considered to be a single letter—
so much so that a tradition from the Prophet is quoted that a person
who docs not accept Idm-alif as a single letter has nothing to do with
him and will not come out of hellfire in all eternity. 125 While in early
times Idm-alif w T as frequently used in profane poetry to point to the
quick succession of events or, more often, to tight embrace, specu-
lations about its mystical value developed in the ninth century. Their
first known expression is Abu’!- Hasan ad-Daylamfs book c Atf al-alif
al-maluf ild’l-lam al-maHuf (“The Inclination of the Tame alif toward
the Inclined ldm s> ). 12& In this book the author, who flourished around
the year 1000, discusses problems of mystical love, using a consid-
erable amount of letter mysticism, I bn i: Arabi continued this tradi-
tion. 127

At the same time, Idm-alif \ when interpreted according to its se-
mantic content, means Id (no), which is most importantly the begin-
ning of the profession of faith — Id ildha ilia Allah — which was inter-
preted by some wa iters as the Greatest Name of God, Had not the
Prophet seen these words written “in letters of flame on the fore-
head of the Archangel, on the diadem of his hair”? 128 Owing to its
graphic form, the Id was interpreted by mystical writers as a broom

101

that cleans from the heart all worldly concerns 129 or as a sword that
cuts the neck of mundane desire. 110 From here, the relation with
c A It's famous double-edged sw r ord Dhu'l-fiqdr could easily be estab-
lished. Thus, popular painting often shows the Id as a sword (but
even the tail of the yd in c Ali's name was sometimes formed as a
double-edged sword), 131 Some mystics compared the la to scissors,
cutting off all relationships save with God; and Jami saw it as a croc-
odile that swallows everything that seems to exist besides God. 132

The fact that by the simple addition of an alif this Id could be
transformed into ilia — the positive beginning of the second half of
the shahada — supplied the Sufis with innumerable possibilities for
further interpretations, and they tried to instruct disciples how to
“polish the sword of Id with the alif 4 $ayqal/ f that is* to give it a
specific luster by transforming the negation of everything besides
God into the affirmation of God's Unity and Uniqueness, 133

Even in the daily routine of the Sufis lam-alif played a certain role.

The dervish who assumed a special attitude when standing before
his master for the gulbdng would look like a Id. 114 And the interpre-
tation of the shahada that, as Jami stated, is basically nothing but a
threefold repetition of the word ildh (God), leads into another, end-
less field of mystical thought and practice, 135

Here one may also mention the special prayers that are formed
by the repetition of various forms of one Arabic root* such as the
hd’iyya prayer: Yd muhawxvil al-hawl wa 1-ahwdl hawwil kdlana ild ahsan
al-hdl (“G you who changest the power and the states* change our
state into the best state”), which has been used for decorative pur-
poses in Turkey. 130

The ha’ duos, written in Turkey in the nineteenth century

Thinking of all these possible interpretations, Sana i discovered
that the Koran begins with b (the bd of the basmala) and ends with s

102

(the sm of an-nds in Sura 1 14), which two letters, taken together,
form the Persian word bos (enough), proving that the Koran is
enough once and forever. 137

One special art that developed in early mystical Islam was the ish-
tiqdg kabfr , the interpretation of words according to the meaning or
numerical value of their single components. Does not namaz (ritual
prayer) consist of n } meaning nnsrat (victory), m from mulkat (king-
dom), alif from ulfat (intimacy), and z from ziyddat (increase)? Thus
said Abul-Qasim in Samarqand in the tenth century/ 38 and many
centuries later the Persian I small i poet Khaki Khorasani inter preted
the word dmtn (amen) as containing Adam, Muhammad, c All
(through the final i) and nur (all light). 139 The interpreters were, as
this example shows, not very consistent in their choice of explana-
tions and would even explain the same letter in a word according to
different concepts so that they would agree with their ideas. That
happens, for instance, in Turkish mystical texts.

It is understandable that the mystics applied their interpretative
art particularly to the ward Allah. The Ismaili thinker Sijistani com-
bined the four letters of the sacred name with the four elements:
alif stands for fire; the first lam for air and the second one for water;
and the round h represents the earth. 140 Hallaj has expressed his
very personal interpretation of the name Allah in a short poem, in
w r hich he speaks of

an alif by whose w f ork the creatures are connected,
and a 1dm that goes to maldma , [blame]
then another ldm> increasing in meanings,
then a he by which I become enamored/ 41

H is verses have been imitated by Ahmad Ghazzali, and the Egyptian
Sufi Shushtari in the thirteenth century developed his ideas about
the letters of Allah in a charming popular muivashshah. In the Ibn
c Arabi tradition, Hallaj’s verse was interpreted as meaning that alif
points to Adam as the first human being, the first idm to c Azazil,
Satan, because tie was the first to be blamed and became the model
of the maldmatiyya w r ho will perform outwardly blameworthy actions
rather than pretend conformity with the external law r and order to
hide their high spiritual status. The second lam turns the negation

103

into a positive statement, and the A is understood as the Divine lahyt
and the human materia , hayulfi, from the union of which man gains
his perfect nature* But we add with the author, “And God knows
best.” 142 There are even poetical riddles about the Divine Names that
have been commented on time and again* 115

These interpretations are continued even in our day by modern
Western followers of I bn c Arabi such as Leo Schaya. According to
hirn, alif is "the only Real/ 5 the first lam, “the Pure Knowledge of
Himself”; the second lam , “His knowledge of Himself through His
all-embracing power”; and the h is, as almost everywhere, the Es-
sence that rests in its Ipseity and is absolutely nonmanifest. Schaya
adds to these basic statements further elucidations of the combina-
tion of the different letters of the word Allah, the role of the vowel
in the i c rdb t and so forth, all of them heavily charged with mystical
meaning. 144

Ruzbihan Baqlrs speculations about Allah take the same direction
but are always connected with Love, the central topic of his work.
Thus, the alif Allah is the absolute uncreated Unicity that points
to inseparable union, and 1dm is the beloved turned into a lover
through its own love in its own love 14 5 — thoughts that hark back, in
a certain way, to Day l ami’s Kitdb c atf al-alif) which belongs to the
same chain of Shirazi Sufism as Ruzbihan’s work.

As the word Allah has been interpreted in various ways, so has
Adam , but here the general feeling is that the letters of his name
represent the three movements of prayer, as the name of Muham-
mad is also often regarded as a representation of a person prostrat-
ing himself in prayer. 146 Even more important is the fact that the
very name Muhammad and its derivatives Ahmad, Mahmud, and
Hamid, as well as the second half of the profession of faith (like the
first half!), consist exclusively of undotted letters and thus furnished
the mystics with a proof that the Prophet was all light, pure, and
not stained by any trace of black dots* 147 Perhaps this was one of
the reasons why people composed whole works in undotted letters,
such as Fayzfs commentary on the Koran or a selection of forty
hadUh with commentary* 148

One may also mention here the importance of the vision of letters
during the education of a Sufi. Thus, the Kubrawi mystic I star a’ ini

104

gave extensive answers to the questions of a disciple who had seen
the basmala written in black or gold or blessings upon the Prophet
in various styles of writing such as mukaqqaq, tkuluth, and Kufi. l4S

One understands that pious Muslims would like to make the ut-
most use of the baraha of the Koranic letters, Therefore, it is not
surprising to find at the end of copies of the Koran prayers or pious
sayings in which the meaning of the letters is explored* Sometimes
it is an alphabet that contains exclusively allusions to Koranic sen-
tences. Th would be tkiyahun sundiis (brocade garments; Sura 76/21),
kh f khdlidin (eternally remaining [in Paradise]; Sura 3/15 and many
others), and so on. Or, the calligrapher might write some general
advice such as, “From alif the goal is that you be one with Allah;
from ba, that you take blessing from the basnwla , ' * and the like, as is
said in a Turkish Golden Alphabet 150

Such Golden Alphabets seem to have been popular all over the
Muslim world — the tenth-century Sufi alphabet that Arberry dis-
cussed contains twenty-nine definitions of Sufism in alphabetic or-
der, 351 and Mustaqhnzade was only one of the numerous pious cal-
ligraphers who would compose a saint al-huruf, a letter- prayer, in
thirty paragraphs* 152 In the regional languages of Pakistan, such as
Pashto, Sindh i, and particularly Panjabi, so-called Slharfi (thirty-let-
ter poems) are an important genre in folk literature; 153 they are
found (as Alifnama) in popular Sufi treatises in Malay alam 154 as they
are used by speakers of Swahili 355 and by early Turkish poets* 1535
These poems are partly used to instruct the generally illiterate lis-
teners in the secrets of the Arabic alphabet and to teach them that
alif means Allah, mim Muhammad, and c ayn c A I i (thus the beginning
of one of Bullhe Shah's mystical songs). Thus, kh is the blameworthy
quality of khudi (selfishness), while fa may tell of farm (mystical an-
nihilation) ovfaqr (poverty)* The interpretations again vary greatly,
and in Panjabi Sthaifi even Panjabi words are utilized f or the alpha-
bet, not just the religious Arabic or, less frequently, Persian expres-
sions.

One has also to mention in passing the Sufis 7 attempts to create
special codes, such as the mystical balabayldn language, in order to
conceal the secrets of Sufi thought from the uninitiated. 157 I bn
Wahshiya's Kitab shauq al-mmtaham, which was first discussed by Jo-

105

seph von Hammer in 1806, contains a number of strange alphabets,
from “antediluvian” to astrological, which must have been in use at
least for purposes of magic, 15 ®

The early speculations about the meaning of letters were brought
to their dimax in the system of the Hurufis. 15 ^ Is not the letter “a
black cloud pregnant with knowledge 5 ? And the pious were sup-
posed to disentangle the meaning of these letters in which God had
manifested Himself to man,

Fadlullah of Astarabad developed a doctrine in which everything
was seen and explained under the aspect of letters (kuritf) after he
discovered that the central letter of his name Fadl, dad, had the
numerical value of 800/1397, the year in which he began to expand
his ideas. Word is the supreme manifestation of God, and “the whole
total of letters and of their numerical values, according to the abjad,
is the total of all the emanating and creative possibilities of God and
is God Himself made manifest.” 160 Man was regarded as a copy of
this Divine writing:

The tablet whose quality is “well preserved” —
this form is the face in the expressed speech.

Is it not amazing that the word wajh (face) has the numerical value
of 14 and so has the word yad (hand)? And there are 14 lines on the
face and 14 phalanges of the hand! And !4 is the number of the
disconnected letters in the Koran and half of the traditional Arabic
letters,

'he four eyelids and the two eyebrows and hair of the head —

these are seven lines, O just God! 161

Those who have insight and have been granted Him ul-Mtab (the
knowledge of the book) can understand the secret written in the
human face, 162 The alif is the equator that divides the face and is
represented by the nose; the bd corresponds to the 14 innocent mar-
tyrs of Shia Islam and is located beside the nose — and thus the book
of the face is interpreted one by one. The sab c mathdni (the seven
double verses) that are mentioned in the Koran (Sura 15/87) are
likewise connected with the face in its sevenfold and fourteen fold

106

manifestations. It was not difficult for Fadlullah and his followers to
find enough Koranic statements that could be meaningfully inter-
preted according to his system. Thus, the eschatological description,
“on the day that the sky brings evident smoke” (Sura 44/10), is
understood as meaning “the appearance of the letters and the sci-
ence of the letters, and the comparison of letters with smoke comes
from the fact that the letters and the science of the letters become
evident from the black line [or, script]/’ 163

Even though the basic ideas of FadlullalVs Hurufi theories were
common among the Sufis, he was executed for heresy in 1398, "he
ar rogation of a quasi -prophetic rank for himself, reflected in his
claim that the 4 special letters of the Persian language (p, zk 3 ch f and
g) were specially granted to him to complete the alphabet of 28 let-
ters given to the Prophet Muhammad, was certainly counted against
him.

The subtle relations between man and letters had been well known
to the mystics. Man was considered to be a manuscript, the external
letters of which agree with this world while their inner meaning is
related to the Divinity. 164 And long before Fadlullah’s days the poets
had compared the face of a beautiful beloved to a superbly written
copy of the Koran, for both are equally flawless. Such imagery then
becomes more common after 1400; thus, the Turkish Hurufi poet
Nesimi calls out:

O you, whose eyebrow, eyelashes and musk colored hair is the umm
ul-bitdb:

The Imam and spiritual guide for the true monotheists becomes
the Koran [Le., the face of the beloved], 165

But c Attar had already played with the term khatt, the “script” or
“down,” when he spoke of the khatt of the Koran copy of beauty, by
which he intended the down on the face of the young beloved. 166
This remained a standard topos, to develop which the poets in-
vented ever more eccentric comparisons, 167 c Imad-i Hurufi is only
one of the numerous poets who wrote verses like:

The khatt (“script/down”) which was sent down upon your cheek
is a lam which points [dull; also the letter dal] to the verse of mercy. 168

107

Another poet goes even further when he describes the beloved in
perfect Hurufi style:

Between the two eyes ( c ayn) of the friend from the nun of the
eyebrows to the mlm [of the mouth]

The nose has drawn an alif on the face of silver.

No, no, I am wrong: by a perfect miracle

The finger of the Prophet has split the moon in two halves. 169

For the face of the beloved is radiant as the moon, and Muham-
mad's miracle of “splitting the moon" (Sura 54/1) was very often
quoted as one of the proofs of his spiritual power. Even in remote
provinces of the eastern Muslim world Hurufi imagery was used at
least to the eighteenth century , for a poet in Sind states:

Your face is like a Koran copy without correction and mistake,
Which the Pen of Fate has written exclusively from musk.

Your eyes and your mouth are verses and the dot for stopping,
your eyebrows the madda.

The eyelashes the sign of declension, the mole and the down the
letters and the dots. 170

One of the most famous poets to write in this strain, and for whom
this imagery was probably more than a mere poetical convention, is
the founder of the Safavid kingdom in Iran, Shah Isma c il Khata’i,
regarded by the Bektashis in Turkey as one of their great poets. In
his Turkish verses, which were meant to attract the Turkish tribes
in the border zone between Iran and Anatolia, we find lines like:

O you, whose sign [dyat; also, “Koranic verse”] is the tide page of
the primordial divan,

the tughrd of your eyebrows is the bismilldhi 1 r-rahmdni'r-rahimd 1 1

The expression that the eyebrows or eyes are the tughrd for the book
of the face remained common among mystics and poets. Even an
eighteenth-century Naqshbandi mystic like Mir Dard of Delhi, who
certainly had no Hurufi connections in the technical sense of the
word, described man as the seal of creation: “The alif of his stature

108

points to God's unity, and the tughra of his composition, that is, the
absolute comprehensive picture of his eye, is a he with two eyes which
indicates the Divine Ipseity,” 172

The Turkish poet Fuzuli, whose verse is almost a compendium of
religiously tinged imagery in use in the sixteenth century, skillfully
expands the comparison of the face to the Koran by alluding to the
art of tafaul (prognostication):

My intention (niyya) is to give up my soul when 1 see your face:
opening the Koran copy of your face, let my omen be blessed! 173

That means that, when the beloved unveils her radiant beauty, the
lover wall fulfill his intention to die before her from happiness.

Mystically minded poets have always delighted in inventing cross-
relations with Sura 12, the story of Yusuf, called in the Koran itself
“the most beautiful tale/’ Thus, the love story that the heart reads
from the beloved's eyebrows resembles Sura Yusuf written in the
vault of a mihrah 1 7 4 (which the arched eycbrow r resembles, the face
of the beloved being the direction to which the lover turns for his
prayers). Amir Khusrau, w T ho composed this elegant verse, also
claims that he constantly talks about the eyebrows and eyelashes of
his beloved, like children who learn the sura Nun wal-qalmn in
school/' 1 " 11 For the friend's eyebrows resemble an inverted nun, and
her eyelashes are sharp and black like pens. He also compares the
“page of the face" to a Koranic verse or sign (aya) of mercy that
induces man to exclaim “Praised be God!” 176

In mystical tradition, the sura Wad-dulid, “By the Morning Light!”
{Sura 93), is also compared to the radiant face 177 but almost exclu-
sively to the face of the Prophet, as done so ingeniously by Sana'i in
his poetical commentary on this sura* 178
Such rather stereotyped images could become more colorful in
the hand of a great master, even though they sometimes seemed to
border on blasphemy. Long before the Hurufi movement started,
Khaqani said:

Since it is fitting to write the book of God with red and gold,
it is without doubt fitting that you wear red and yellow! 179

But when a seventeenth-century Indian poet declared,

109

Your stature is in uprightness also "correctness*’] all the word

of the Prophet,

Your kkatt [“down/script”] is esteemed valid, like the Divine word,

his biographer cannot help exclaiming, "He said this because he was
misguided — may God forgive him!” 18 "

The tendency to equate human figures to letters developed logi-
cally out of the art of calligraphy. One has to remember that some
technical terms in calligraphy point to the similarity between human
beings and letters. Tahdiq (making eyeballs) is used for producing
the correct openings of some rounded letters , 181 and the arrange-
ment of lines of letters should be organized "until it looks as if they
smiled and showed front teeth that are wide apart from one
another 7 ’ 1 * 2 (a traditional mark of beauty), A modern Turkish au-
thor, Ismayi! Hakki Baltadoglu* has elaborated such comparisons in
his book, Turkkrde yazi sanati , and has tried to show not only that
some letters can be drawn in human shapes but that letters, too, like
humans, seem to have empathies and antipathies, so that one should
never try to combine the "inimical” letters when working at a perfect
calligraphic representation.

From here it is not far to the "talking letters” that one sometimes
encounters on metalwork, predominantly from the eleventh and
twelfth centuries . 184 A cori temporary of Husayn Bayqara and Babur
in Herat invented letters that looked like animals and human
beings , 1 85 In the Hurufi tradition as it was continued in the Turkish

Human face, made up from the words Allah, Muhammad , : A/f, Hasan y
and Husayn. From a Rektashi convent in Turkey. After Kuhnel, Is-
lanmche Schriftkunst

Rektashi order, the pictorial representations of the name of ' Ali be-
long to this tradition; but even a strictly Sunni mystic like Nasir Mu-
hammad c Andalib in Delhi claimed that " c All is written twice in the
face .” 188 Faces composed from the names of Allah, Muhammad, and
the first three imams ( c Ali, Hasan, and Husayn) belong here as much

4 ‘ c Ali is written twice in the face/’ Rektashi picture, Turkey nine-
teenth century. After A r seven, Les Arts Decoratifs Turcs

as the figures made up of sacred words as they were common in
Turkish folk tradition. 187 The Hurufi idea that man is a microcosm
that could be represented by letters certainly played a role in the
development of this art.

Oriental calligraphers — and here the Turks seem to have been
most inventive — created ingenious pictures of living beings built up
from pious ejaculations and sacred formulas. Pigeons composed of
the hasmala remind us that in the mystical tradition the pigeon is
one of the numerous soul-birds and constantly says ku ku (Where,
Where?) 18 * or attests, in the Turkish tradition, hu hu (He, He!) like
a true dervish. Sanaa had invented the Litany of the Birds (Tasbih
at-tuyur) in which the sounds of each bird are interpreted reli-
giously; 189 and from this time, around 1100, these ideas permeate
mystical thought and poetry, culminating in c Attar’s Mantiq itt-tayr.
The stork with his lak lak lak repeats the attestation al-mulk loft, al-
Hzz lak , at-hamd Ink (“Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the
glory”), 190 and therefore the pious bird was a fitting calligraphic
symbol. It seems that Mustafa Raqim, Ottoman qddi c oskar and mas-
ter calligrapher, drew his famous stork first in 1 223/1808. 191 The

Basmala in the shape of a stork. Turkey, nineteenth century

111

rooster too has been used for calligraphic pictures, for he is not only
an important religious bird in the indigenous Iranian tradition but
also an angelic animal that calls Muslims to their morning pray-
ers. 192 A contemporary basmala of a swan, used by a leading Cey-
lonese Sufi master, reminds the reader that he should be, like a
swan, diving for pearls in the ocean of Divinity. 193 And c All, with

Basmala in the form of a swan, invented by H. H, Bawa Mohaiy Lid-
din, Sri Lanka, ca, 1978

the surnames Haydar or Ghazanfar (the lion of God) appears in nu-
merous pictures that represent a lion made from either the basmala
or the Nadi Aliy an. One of the first known Nadi c Aliy an lions was
drawn by no less a master than Mahmud Nishapuri, Shah Tah-
masp’s favorite calligrapher. 194

Flowers also served calligraphers to represent pious words, and
sometimes one finds thegW-* muhammadi, which contains the Proph-
et's family tree or his ninety-nine names or is made up from the
words Allah, Muhammad, and c Ali. ins

Lamps were created from letters to remind Muslims that God is
the light of the heavens and the earth; and pictures of sacred build-
ings, especially mosques, were often constructed from the profes-
sion of faith and perhaps some additional formulas, in square Kufic.
In dervish circles, the tdj f the headgear of the dervish, was fre-
quently created from the name of the founder of the order. The
Mevlevi sikke, containing the invocation of Maulana Rumi, has be-
come a much-sought-after souvenir in Konya.

Circular formulas served for meditative purposes, and the roses
formed by the final sins of the last, sura, or the mand alalike repeti-
tions of the formula Id ildha ilia huwa in modern Persian calligraphic

drawings, serve as much to draw the mind toward the Divine mys-
teries as do the mirrored, sometimes even fourfold reflected tablets
with the invocations of Divine Names or of thejuraJ al-ikhlas, as they
are frequently found in Ottoman mosques.

Lion, made of Shiite invocations

One of the finest expressions of these mystical dimensions of cal-
ligraphy is a Persian piece that looks almost magical. The letters are
filled with tiny flowers and leaves in delicate colors, and the lines
contain two verses of the Koran that are at the heart of mystical
Islam: Alldku, Id ildha ilia huwa , kullu shay in halikun Hid wajhuhu (“God,
there is no deity but He; everything is perishing save His face”; Sura
28/88). For the Sufis, who delved so deeply into the secrets of the
letters and invented ever new explanations of each letter, reached
the point where they understood that letters are, as Niffari said as
early as in the tenth century, “pure otherness, which symbolize
everything as far as it is 'Other, 9 siwd f in connection to God,” 196 and
they found that the letter is “radically incompatible with the quest
for the Absolute.'’ The blind who touched the elephant described
this animal (in Sanaa's and Rum is tales a symbol of God) “some-
times as an alif } sometimes as a dal/* 197 but nobody knew what the
whole elephant looked like. The Sufi knew that a rose, gul , cannot
be plucked from the letters g and l and that H$hq (love) is more than
the combination of the letters c ayn r skin, and qdf f 198 even though
they might strive to explain each of these letters in hundreds of
different ways. But finally they would wash off all their learned pages
once the beloved appeared to them; as Nizami said:

113

I studied a hundred learned manuscripts —

When I found Thee, I washed off the pages . 199

For the mystics’ goal, as expressed by Yunus Emre, is:

to drown in the ocean

to be neither an alif nor a mlm nor a dal , 300

for all the letters, written so beautifully and interpreted so meaning-
fully, are in the end nothing but thorn hedges that hide the Eternal
Rose 201 and* as Rumi exclaims:

Every pen is bound to break
once it reaches the word Love . 202

Allah, from the mausoleum of Shah Daulat, Maner (India), early
seventeenth century

114

Cal igraphy
and Poetry

How beautifully appeared from this tress and cheek and lovely face
firstly ink, secondly a dot, and thirdly a writing . 1

Thus says Amir Khusrau around 1 300, using a kind of imagery that
had been a favorite with Oriental poets ever since script became a
central issue in Islamic culture. Even though more than one orien-
talist expressed his utter dislike for these “silly games” in which the
poets used metaphors from the sphere of writing, 2 they form part
and parcel of Islamic poetry, and many a poet may have sighed, like
Ghalib:

0 Lord, why does Fate obliterate me?

1 am not a letter that can be repeated on the tablet of time! 3

From early days onward the literati observed the scribe and were
well aware that his pen was able to perform strange miracles. By the

115

omission of one dot he can “blind the eye” (as in Turkish, by writing
kor instead of g6z } which are discerned only by one dot), 4 and al-
ready in the tenth century Hamza al-Isfahani quotes even more ter-
rible events that took place because of a misplaced dot, not to men-
tion the misreadings of important texts such as Prophetic hadith *- —
by the movement of a single dot the tradition would permit a person
to perform his prayer “while he has a cat (sinnaur) in his sleeve,”
whereas the correct reading should he “a small wooden slate (sib-
biir)”** And while such misreadings and wrong punctuations were a
source of great concern for the scholars- — and may have helped cre-
ate the popular saying, kullu khattdtm jahul (“every calligrapher is
ignorant”) — literati and poets enjoyed playing with them in order to
create a glittering net of ambiguities or to produce riddles and co-
nundrums, the solving of which seems almost impossible to the
modern reader hut that even the greatest poets of Iran, such as
Jami, indulged in with great zest.

Besides these wordplays, which form an integral part of the rhe-
torical art of tajnts (paronomasia), poets utilized everything con-
nected with writing for their comparisons, either by inventing clever
similes for pen, paper, or ink, or by interpreting different f acets of
life with images taken from this sphere.

It appears that both Arabic and Persian poets were particularly
fond of comparisons with the pen, that mysterious instrument that
is “one of the two tongues” (namely “the tongue of the hand”) 7 and
that had also, as has been seen, an important religious connotation.
Sometimes the images are powerful, as when a great poet like Kalim
complains in a fine antithetical verse about his old age, which makes
him

Like a child just learning to write, whose pen the teacher takes fin
his band],

Thus I drag my cane on the ground with the help of others. N

But such striking, melancholy verses are rare; the pen is more fre-
quently imagined as someone who rides (on the fingers). An Anda-
lusian poet describes the pen as a hero riding in a coat of mail of
ink, 9 while his colleague combines somewhat contradictory images
when he claims that such a riding pen, as lean and tearful as he

116

himself, resembles a salesman who sells one necklace of pearls after
the other (in writing accurate lines with harmonious letters ). 10 He
could therefore Hatter a generous master by stating:

If your script is pearls, it is not unusual,

For your hand is an ocean, and the ocean casts pearls fon the
shore ]. 1 1

One could easily assemble a whole anthology of verse in which
the poets praise their pen for the miracles it wrought* Sa’ib claims
with a strange combination of images:

In the work of love I strive like Farhad —
l practice madness with the steel pen ! 12

The steel pen here corresponds to Farhad’s ax by which he dug up
the rocks to produce a canal for the milk of Shinn's herds.

The Sufi idea of the obedient pen is common among nonmystical
writers, who borrowed it for more worldly purposes. Thus Salman-
i Savaji describes the faithful lover:

We, like the pen, do not want to turn away from the friend—

One sign from the friend, and we run on our head ! 13

This is commonplace; but two centuries earlier, Mas c ud ibn Sa c d-i
Salman in Lahore gave the image of the pen a different twist, which
may be attributable to his Indian background:

[The pen] bound the infidels’ girdle and became a worshipper of
pictures:

For this reason the master cut its neck . 14

It seems that the connection of the pen with the “country of the
infidelity” was known as early as in c Abbasid Baghdad* Someone
who sent some pens to the vizier c Ali ibn Tsa, “which long to visit
your finger tips," described them poetically as “being of the color of
negroes and coming from the land of infidelity, but intent on guid-
ing the people aright " 15 Is it not strange that this mute one talks

117

dearly and, when it speaks secretly in Mecca, its talk is known in
Syria? 16 And the qualities of the pen as a proper Muslim were
stressed more than once in early Arabic poetry. The pen in a mas-
ter’s hand is

... a virtuous one, who performs genuflexion and prostration;

A useful one, whose tears are flowing,

who performs the five [prayers] at the right time,

and exerts itself in the service of the Creator. 17

Very often the pen arid the sword are related; after all, the per-
fect prince is the sahib as-sayf wa’l-qalam {the lord of sword and pen),
as many inscriptions attest (even though some of the Mamluk rulers
who bore this title were completely illiterate). Bad a’ uni quotes a line
by an otherwise unknown poet who praises a hero:

[His sword] cleaves the helmet as the pen divides the columns on
the page,

and with the red blood, draws a ruled column on the page of the
battlefield. 1 ®

Much earlier, Anvari had eulogized a patron with the daring image:

From the letters of your sword appear the signs (dya) of victory;
the composition of the verse (dya) is from dotted letters. 19

That is, the drops of blood shed by the prince in battle look like the
letters in the Koranic verse innd fataknd (Sura 48/1), most of which
have diacritical marks.

The martial imagery continues with numerous comparisons of the
pen with a lance ( mmh ),

with which ‘"conquest” is written, and whose pages are the
enemies . . ,

and w T hich writes lines w T ith the f resh blood of the ene-
mies . . . 20

Such expressions are found even in the most famous eulogy for the
Prophet* Busiri’s Burda* 21

118

As the shape of pen and lance resemble each other, comparisons
with arrows likewise offered themselves easily, all the more since the
slender long alifs and tarns the pen produced, particularly in the
muhaqqaq and nhant styles, enhanced such analogies . 22 That is why
Kushajim in tenth-century Aleppo boasted diat his right hand “shoots
broadside at books ,” 23 which includes an allusion to the early, broad
shape of codices that was still common for Kora ns in his time.

When Nizami sees the ten fingers of his heroine, Shir in, as ten
pens with which the order to kill is metaphorically written (for each
movement of her finger causes the death of a longing (over ), 24 he
surpasses the more practical comparisons of the Arab poets by far,
and the image seems even more farfetched than Fuzulfs idea that
every eyelash of his is a pen when it comes to writing the commen-
tary of (the book of) his grief . 25 Comparisons among pens, arrows,
and eyelashes are not rare in later verse, but Fuzuli is particularly
found of such complicated images. The basis for this imagery may
be found in the remark of al-Mamu n s secretary: "Tears on the
cheeks of chaste young women are not more beautiful than the tears
of a reed pen on a page."

It was certainly logical to compare the pen to a goldsmith and its
product to jewelry , 27 or to see the pen as lean and emaciated like a
true lover, growing thinner (as the poet thinks) because its beloved,
the Inner Meaning, recedes from it 28 — a skillful way of expressing
the position of every author who (eels that no words can fully con-
vey the spirit and true meaning of his thought.

Yet the pen is, as the Turkish poet Na’ili says, “without tongue,
but in the vat of the inkwell it is a Plato .” 29 (The Oriental tradition
replaces Diogenes in the vat by Plato who, in Turkish folklore, ap-
pears as the master magician.) Even more, the pen is, according
to Nizami, a strange dragon that produces jewels, whereas the dragon
usually sits on the treasure and rather hides the jewels . 30 Related is
the idea that the pen is a serpent, able to produce poison and anti-
dote ; 31 or it resembles a lion in the dark forest of the inkwell.

From here, it is not difficult for the Persian poet to reach other
sets of images. Khaqani speaks of the nayistan (reed thicket) of the
inkwell; and the pen recedes, like a lion, into its native reed thicket . 22
Furthermore, the pen being indeed made from reed, its combina-
tion with sugarcane came naturally to the poets, and again Khaqani

119

claimed that the inkwell is filled with sugar so that the lions are
completely indebted to the cane sugar that emerges from the pen.™
A century later, Amir Khusrau sees it differently. The reed becomes
so sweet in describing the patron that the pen turns into sugarcane,
which the poet then happily chews . 34

A much more common image is the combination of the reedpen
with the reed flute, and everyone who has studied at least the intro-
ductory verses of R urn Is Mathnawi remembers the praise of the reed
flute that reveals the secret of love and longing and casts the fire of
love into the human souk The reedpen could do the same; like the
flute, it is separated from the reed bed, and like the flute it is hollow
(“with an empty stomach”) and is filled with sweetness when convey-
ing the words of love. Both tell the secrets that are in man’s mind:
the pen puts them on paper in undulating lines, and the flute ex-
presses them in undulating strains of notes, as even a modern Eu-
ropean writer, Louis Aragon, has stated: “From the reed the musical
line and the written line have emerged, the flute and the pen .” 35
This maxim was rightly placed at the beginning of one of the finest
recent works on Arabic calligraphy— Hasan Massoudy’s Calligraphic
Arabe vivante.

Good calligraphy certainly has a musical quality, whether the stiff
letters of an early tirdz inscription as described by Arthur Upham
Pope (“The verticals in this tall type are marshalled in a processional
rhythm ”) 36 or the lines of nasiaHtq that seem to dance to the inner
rhythm of a Persian poem.

The whole education of calligraphers and musicians is very simi-
lar, a fact to which Tauhidi had already alluded: 37 the formation of
silsilas or ghamnas, lineages of artists, often in the same family; the
meticulous observance of the technical details in the preparation of
the utensils; and the strict canon of the alphabet and the musical
scale, out of which the true master could develop the lines of script
and melody, respectively . 38 It is not surprising that many calligra-
phers are known as musicians, and Mir- c Ali of Herat was well aware
of this connection when he sighed:

From a lifetime of calligraphic exercises my stature became bent
like a harp

For the script of me, the dervish, to become so perfect [lit., “reach
this canon ”]. 39

120

Does not the pen sing and divulge secrets like the flute?

Woe to the hand of the pitch-daubed pen,
which revealed my heart’s secret to friend and foe!

I said: “I’ll cut its tongue so that it be mute!”

I did it —and now it's become even more eloquent ! 40

The allusion 10 the ifska as-sirr (divulgence of the secret of Divine
Love and Unity), for which Hallaj had to suffer, is clear in this verse.
The martyr-mystic also became more eloquent, and his voice was
heard better after his head was cut off.

For the poets, however, these simple and often touching compar-
isons were not enough. Not only did they hear the melancholy song
of the reed flute from their reed pens, but even the sound of the
trumpet of Jsrafil seemed to rise from the scratching of their pens:

The blowing of the trumpet is the sound of his pen,
a blowing of the trumpet which is not in the Koran,

For that [Koranic] blowing gives resurrection to him whose body
is a sacrifice in the lane of death;

But this one gives life to the one whose heart
is killed by the events of [our] time , 41

To return to more earthly images, many poets have spoken of the
pen as producing a veritable garden by its tears:

As though it were a flourishing garden where the morning drops
fall in rains,

a garden, smiling, about which the clouds weep, with camomile
laughing like a beautiful mouth . 42

It goes without saying that such similes are frequently used when a
specific calligrapher’s work was praised for its beauty . 43 An early
master, quoted by Tauhidi, had claimed that handwriting without
dots and diacritical points is like barren soil, while with these signs
it is tike a garden in bloom . 44 Thus, an Andalusian poet saw the
whole earth in spring covered with vegetahilian writing among which
the flowers looked like the dots that make the difficult text under-
standable — a very fitting comparison, since the vowels and marks were

121

written in color. 45 The comparisons of garden and page become
even more meaningful when the illumination became more elabo-
rate, so that Rumfs little ant (whose story was related in Chapter 3)
was certainly justified when she took the page for a garden. The
very name of the nhani script, which inevitably reminded poets of
sweet basil (raihdn), made the image even more convenient. Of
course, it was elaborated and twisted by later Persian and Indian
poets so that Munir Labor i in the mid -seventeenth century could
say, quite elegantly:

The spring cloud makes its ruler from the threads of rain,

When the air writes the description of the rose on “cloud paper”
[he., marbleized paper]. 46

1 he poets, who described the miraculous work of their pens, 47
were of’ course also interested in the quality of their ink and ink-
wells. The inkwell not only appeared to them as die native reed
thicket to whose humid depth the pens would recede time and again,
but sometimes it became personified — -it is a black woman making
love with her sons (he., the pens) or a king on his throne; 48 the ink,
then, was either its milk or its saliva, or else a mixture of honey and
poison, because sweet and bitter words could be written with it. 4 ®
Persian poets loved to compare the inkwell to the fountain contain-
ing the Water of Life: Did not the ink with which they wrote their
poems make them immortal? And since the Water of Life is found
in deepest darkness, the image is correct, for the ink contained in
the dawdt was certainly black. 50

In describing the various qualities of their ink, Persian poets, par-
ticularly those of the sabk-t hindt in late Moghul days, invented the
most outre images, Making their ink from the pupil of their eye, 51
they would send the letter through the hands of tears toward its
destination, or they would burn their bones to produce ink in order
to write correctly about the fire of love. 52 Ghalib claimed that only
ink made from the shadow of the Huma bird was fitting for the
description of his unhappy state* 3 As is well known, the H Lima's
shade transforms the person touched by it into a king. But it is in-
teresting to note that Kushajim, who was of Sindhi origin, once re-
marked in a poem that his ink reminded him of his dark-skinned
Indian grandfather. 54

122

Writing material also is often alluded to in poetry. Not all poets
speak of “the pages of the day which are sealed by dew drops ,” 55 as
a seventeenth -century Turkish poet did, but “the pages of the sky”
are quite frequently mentioned. Nor did all of them follow the ex-
ample of Abu Nuwas, who praised the paper because it can carry
love letters and has been touched by the fingers of the beloved , 56
Writing material occurs in the earliest- known Arabic poems. Qays
ibn aLKhatim alludes to “traces like the lines of gilded parch-
ment ”; 57 and parchment inspired more than one ancient Arabic poet
to compare it to the atldl, the deserted dwelling places of friends,
The wrinkles on very thin leather are certainly reminiscent of a de-
sert scene. Likewise, pieces of leather or doth with writing on them
are mentioned in pre-Islamic Arabic verse , 59 When Minuchihri in
Iran takes over this image in the late tenth century, he cleverly con-
nects it again with afldl f which for him, however, look like the tauqf-
(chancellery script) of the Sahib (Ibn c Abbad) on top of a document,
while the garden reminds him of “lines of the scribe on paper ,” 60
Leaving the desolate campsites to the Bedouin poets and their imi-
tators, Ibn al-Mu c tazz turned to comparisons closet at hand for a
prince in Baghdad, namely to a drinking scene, and saw the wine
mixed with water as producing “lines with unknown words ,” 01
As the poets in the Persian ate world would describe their won-
drous pen and ink, they also praised their paper so that the contin-
uous rhyme kdghidk (paper) is found in quite a f ew divans of medi-
eval and, especially, post medieval poets. Only rarely is a negative
remark found, such as the curse quoted by (the usually pessimistic)
Mustaqimzade:

When someone has — like paper and pen-

Two tongues and two sides of speech;

Blacken his face like that of paper;

Cut his head as if he were a pen ! 62

An interesting remark about writing on colored paper is found as
early as in Birunfs Kitah fil-Hind:

One would think that the author of the following verses meant
the Hindus:

123

How many a writer uses paper as black as charcoal,
while his pen writes on it with white color. . * . 6:i

We have already mentioned some of Khaqani’s witty allusions to
paper that always prove the imaginative strength of this writer. One
of his finest comparisons is of the rainbow in the evening ‘'produc-
ing a tughrd in seven colors on Syrian paper 1 ' 64 (note the pun shdmt,
“Syrian,” and also “related to the evening”). Four centuries later,
Fuzuli complains in Turkish that his red tears write his state on the
canvas of his eyes, not realizing that one cannot read something that
is written with blood on a red page; his eyes are already so red from
weeping that the tears remain invisible . 65

In Shahja ban's time, Kalim speaks of the haghidh-i bad, the ex-
tremely fine paper used for pigeon post , 66 but he seems also to be
the first, and certainly the most eloquent, Indo-Persian poet to use
the term aim (cloud paper) in his verse* He must have been ac-
quainted with the marbleized paper that was so highly prized in
Moghul and Deccani art from the early seventeenth century on-
ward* There is even a poetical description of a paper mill in Kashmir
from that period * 67

“Cloud paper” could easily be connected with the poet's weeping
eyes, which resemble clouds, as Umid addresses bis beloved:

I shall write from now on my letters on cloud paper
so that you may become acquainted with the state of my weeping
eye ! 68

Kalim, more matter of fact, sees the rivers as a scroll of abn paper , 69
and on a cold winter day in Kashmir the ducks looked to him like
designs of cloud paper on the white paper “ice” 70 — a good obser-
vation, for there are enough examples of pictures of marbleized pa-
per worked into the white ground.

For Bedil, cloud paper becomes a symbol of imitation and lifeless-
ness (as the “picture in the bath house” or the “lion on the wall” had
been symbols of lifeless beings in earlier centuries):

The problem of the stingy person is the imitation of the generous
one:

Where is the cloud paper, when the cloud has water ? 71

124

I he comparison of generosity to water or life- bestowing rain is a
traditional image. Compared with true generosity, what can a miser
offer hut soulless words? In a related image, Beciil says;

What can greed hunt from the hiding place of opportunity, O Lord!
since the kindled paper does not become a leopard! 72

The kdghidk-i dtashzada (kindled paper) is a favorite term in Indo-
Persian poetry from around 1680 onward, because it seemed to be
a symbol of tran si tori ness, of dying in a moment of rapture;

Like kindled paper we are only guests of baqd [duration, eternal
life].

We are the wing-spreading peacock of the garden off and
[annihilation], 73

1 he kindled paper may sparkle for a short moment like a fierce
leopard or a proud peacock, but soon it will be reduced to ashes. In
Ghahb’s poetry, this term is repeated over and over, and the poet's
burning heart seems to manifest itself in the burning spots on the
paper, 74 The beginning of this imagery may be traced back to Rumi,
who once wrote:

If [the lover] would stitch a piece of paper to a bird's wing,

the bird s wing would burn from the heat of that piece of paper. 75

The idea— not the wording, which is found only in Indo-Persian
poetry- — seems to go back even further, 76 Poets all over the Muslim
world have claimed that, when they wanted to write a love letter,
either the fire of dieir heart or the heat of the pen would burn the
paper, while the stream of their tears would dissolve it — words re-
peated dozens of times from Andalusia to India. The paper may
become wet from tears because the poet is jealous of the pen that
writes the name of the beloved; 77 the poet may have wrapped burn-
ing coal — that is, his heart— into the paper so that the letter carrier
may weep about his state. 7 ” Salman-i Savaji is more modest when he
claims:

125

In separation from him I write a letter with my own hand.

The pen weeps blood, and the writing puts dust on its head. 79

But more frequently the poets — from ninth-century Sufis in Iraq to
nineteenth-century scholars in India— used to write their love letters
with red tears on the parchmentlike cheeks “so that someone who
cannot read well can read them”; 80 and at times the combination of
a fiery heart and a weeping eye may even prove useful:

If there were not this fire, my tears would wash off the writing,
and if there were not the water, the letter would burn. 81

Since such letters would “burn the wings of the pigeon that carries
them,” the last poets of the Indian style would not even need a
pigeon but would bind their letters to a peacock's tail, which resem-
bles kindled paper. 83

Ghalib, as usual, reaches the height of hyperbole when he states
that his pen runs over the paper with such a heat that fire flares out
of it so that he can make his own ink f rom the smoke and the soot
that rise from his paper — -certainly a most practical method!

It is relaxing to return from these convoluted ideas to the simple
statement of Qadi Qadan, the Sind hi mystic (d. 1551), who ex-
pressed the secret of loving union with the line;

As paper and writing on it have no distance between them,

So are my beloved and myself! 85

Every calligrapher knew that ink can be washed off (as mentioned
in previous chapters). Not only mystical poets alluded to this fact.
Abu Nuwas around 800 addressed his young boyfriend:

O you, whom 1 have kissed and who wiped off the kiss—

Are you afraid that one could read the letters of its alphabet? 88

A century later, Kushajim went even further when he looked at a
charming boy who licked off the wrong letters from his practicing
sheet: O that he himself were the paper and the boy would make
many, many mistakes! 87 Later, the poets would rather “wash off the

126

alphabet of speech f rom the tablet of life,” as Khaqani says to ex-
plain his silence; 88 or they felt like a child who has to wash off the
slate again and again because he forgets everything he has seen * 89
As much as the mastar, the ruler made of silk thread, was in use
from early days, it appears rather late in poetical language and is
particularly prominent in the sabk-i hindt. Again, Kalini seems to be
especially skillful in the use of this image:

My bed has acted as a ruler for my side —

I have drawn the line of oblivion over die story of obesity * 90

That is, he had become so thin that his ribs look like lines produced
by the masfar while he, ailing, was confined to bed. fo cross a word
out with a simple line is still common* Kalirn also uses the image to
highlight the importance of content over form:

Be right inwardly, and be not decorated outwardly*

The meaning of the Koran copy does not become crooked when it
is [written] without a ruler . 91

It is thanks to the mmtar that the script can become kurst-nishm, that
is, properly placed , 92 and.

Everyone who has to write a copy of the “Etiquette of Poverty”
uses the stripes of the reed mat as a mas tar for the page “body *” 91

The reed mat as used by the Sufis is the true dwelling place for the
man who hopes to achieve spiritual poverty, the fundamentals of
which he writes, as it w r ere, by applying them to his own body*

As allusions to the implements of writing are found in every Is-
lamic land, images taken from other aspects of writing are also fre-
quently used. Muslim writers were well aware that the script of their
Christian neighbors went from left to right, that is, tars, the wrong
direction. Therefore, allusions to the khaff-i tarsd, the backward
Christian writing, are found in Khaqanfs verse (who in general had
a thorough knowledge of Christian customs )* 94 Naziri in India used
them likewise , 95 while the Turkish writer Sami in the eighteenth
century sees the tablet of the spheres containing a writing like the

127

khatt-i land, a pun that is meaningfully used in a poem about the
infidels of Balyor."

Much more popular than these rather exotic images are allusions
to the names of the master calligraphers Xbn Muqla, Ibn al-Bawwab,
and Yaqut, who became as standardized as the figures from the Ko-
ran or the Shdhndma in the repertoire of Persianate writers. Luckily
for the poets, Ibn Muqla could be interpreted as “son of the eye-
balP; Il)ii al-Bawwab is the “doorkeeper's son” but is olten called by
his second name, Ibn Hilal, hildl being the crescent; while Yaqut
means “dark red ruby.” These particular points were combined with
the general puns on 'khatt, which is both “script” ancl “down.”

In the Arabic tradition, Qalqashandi quotes verses that were
echoed in Iran and Turkey as well:

My tear makes beautiful lines on the page of the cheek,
and how should it not do so, since it is Ibn Muqla [— the son of
the eyeball ]? 97

About the same time Khwaju Kirmani said in Iran:

The lines which the “men of my eye” [i.e., the pupils] have written
like water;

It is certain (rnuhaqqaq) that this is a second Ibn Muqla! "

This development is not unexpected, for even before the days of the
calligrapher- vizier lovers would complain in Arabic verse:

The lids of my eyeballs (muqla) weep on [the paper]

as many [times] as the number of letters, and the pen too weeps."

In later days, the name of the great calligrapher became synony-
mous with “good writing”; ath-Tha c alibi wishes someone the best of
luck and days

as beautiful as the cheek of the beloved and the heart of a
litterateur,

and the poetry of al-Walid in the handwriting of Ibn Muqla ! 100

128

And a calligrapher — allegedly Yaqut — said:

If the scripts of people were an eye ( c ayn)

Then my script is the eyeball (muqla) in the eyes of script . 1 ' 11

The "eloquence of Sahban, the script of I bn Muqla, the wisdom
of Luqman and the asceticism of Ibrahim ibn Ad ham” formed the
highest combination of virtues one could think of . 102

Even Maulana Rumi does not ref rain from alluding to the riqd c
script of Ibn al-Bawwab, Instead of imitating this style, one should
rather read a piece of paper (rttq c a) speaking of the love of the
friend, who would then show him the actual gatekeeper, bawwdb. ia:i

Once in a while a calligrapher would be praised with verses like:

Those who saw the w riting of Yaqut,
bought one line of it for a ruby (yaqut).
if Yaqut had seen this writing,
he would buy a single letter of it for a ruby ! 104

And one of the finest poems of this kind is quoted by Daulatshah : 105
Tsmatullah Bukhari, singing in praise of a royal calligrapher, has
inserted not only the traditionally used names of the old masters
but also that of Yaqut’s foremost disciple, as- Say raft, “the money
changer," who alone would be able to distinguish the jewels in each
letter.

Typical of the fossihzation of images is the fact that even in later
centuries only in exceptional cases are other names introduced into
the imagery, as when a Turkish writer compares the face of his
friend to an album page by Mir ( c Ali) and c Tmad . 106 The crescent-
shaped eyebrows, which are often likened to an inverted nun , in-
spired them to assure their readers time and again that even Ibn
Muqla and Ibn Hilal were not able to write anything similar 107 — the
connection of the “eyebrow” with the muqla (eyeball) as well as with
the kildl (crescent moon) is certainly a clever pun*

On the whole, poets used to play on the double meaning of kkatt
(“script/down”); and since the red mouth was usually compared to a
ruby, the pun on Yaqut became a favorite with Persian and Turkish
authors:

129

The script of Yaqut became abolished (naskk), for all the elegant
ones

in the schools now take instruction in khatt from your yaqut
[“Yaqut” and “ruby mouth "]. 108

Thus says Jami with a threefold pun, playing also on the double
meaning of naskk (“abolition” and naskhi style); while a somewhat
later poet sings:

The Calligrapher of creation has written with Chinese musk in
Yaqut’s style

on your ruby lip “Yaqut” [or, “a ruby ”]. 109

The Western reader is soon bored by the constantly recurring
puns on khatt that permeate Persian poetry from its very beginning
to the nineteenth century and were eagerly taken up by the Turks.
It seems that the image developed out of verses like the Arabic one
quoted by Hamza al-Isfahani:

There came a script (khatt), as if it were hairs
in the midst of a cheek,

or like a drawing of henna on the hand of a virgin
who lifts for a moment her veil . 110

Some poets have added to the rather insipid comparisons some new
turns and twists* They liked to combine the black khatt of the be-
loved with the book of their actions, which would be blackened by
their interest in this very khatt; as Amir Khusrau says:

Abolish ( naskh ) the khatt of the beloved for our sake, O angel.

For I am blackening my book ! 111

In another line he complains:

Your khatt has blackened a hundred books of the pure ! 112

Centuries later, another Indian poet adds to the khatt also the khal>
the mole on a friend's face that, always a model of blackness, also
adds to the blackness of his book of actions * 113

130

The image of khatt is central in Amir Khusraifs poetry:

As long as 1 read the Koranic verse of love from the musk-colored
khatt of the friend,

I have completely for gotten the traditions of the religious details
(furu c ) without foundation. 111

He also saw the friend's khatt issuing “the fatwa for blood and
wealth/' 118 that is, that it is licit to confiscate the lover’s wealth and
shed his blood. In a more romantic strain, he acknowledges that the
radiant face of the beloved is the sun on Doomsday, while the black
Mum is his book of actions. 119

Even Sufi poets liked this pun (although Rumi rarely uses it), and
c Attar apparently invented an image that prefigures hundreds of
Persian lines:

Everyone who saw the freshness of your khatt

runs like a pen, with his head on the script of the firman . 1 1

But Bu c All Qalandar read ever so many thousands of subtle points
of tauhld (assertion of God’s Unity) from the khatt, which appear to
explain (the friend’s) beauty. 118

Among classical poets, Jami seems to be fondest of puns on khatt
because in them he could best display his breathtaking skill in word-
play. Did he not try to wash off the Book of Love according to the
order of Intellect? But then the khatt of the beloved made him study
the alphabet again. 119

Any picture which Jami did not paint with the passion [sauda,
“blackness’ 5 ] of your khatt

His wet eye washed it of f with tears of repentance. 120

And the lovers who remember the khatt of the friend,

make ink from th esuwaidd [the little black spot] of their hearts. 121

For a seventeenth -century Indian poet, the "musk -colored khatt is
the binding (shirdza ) of the clean copy of beauty,” 122 an idea taken
over by c Abdul-Jalil Bilgrami whose “folios of patience and endur-

131

ant e were falling apart"’ until he realized that “the wave of the khaU
was the binding for the book of beauty .” 123

The major classical Turkish poet, Fuzuli, invented an elegant im-
age when he claimed that the sun illuminates the moon of the be-
loved’s face in order to perform the gilding of the paper for the
beautiful khatt , 134 meaning that the radiant white face of the beloved
resembles gold-flecked paper on which the “script/down” can unfold
its real beauty* One of his compatriots even saw the tongue of the
pen split when he tried to describe the khatt of the beloved’s lip . 125

The khatt was sometimes considered to be a magic formula drawn
around the mouth to preserve its sweetness or to protect its treasure
of rubies , 126 or as an amulet against fire and fever in the poet’s
heart 127

But the poets also knew that the appearance of the first down on
the face of the fourteen-year-old beloved marks the end of the pe-
riod of love:

Perhaps the pen of destiny has written on the page of the cheek of
this child, who still reads the alphabet.

With great letters [or: with visible down]: “Finished! (tammat ), 126

And the Sind hi poet Mirza Qalich Beg thinks in the same strain that
as long as the face was clear of the kkatt an answer to his love letters
{khatt) would clearly not come, but now, since a letter (kkatt ) has
come from the friend, it shows that his down (khatt) is sprouting
(and he gives up his coquetry )* 129 The young beau himself is not
happy with the growing of his down that marks the end of his role
as a beloved and, as an Indo-Persian poet says:

With such aversion does he see the reflection of his kkatt in the
mirror

That one would think a Christian were looking at a copy of the
Koran ! 120

Sometimes a poet connected the khatt with something positive.
While usually the book of actions may be blackened by the thought
of the khatt, his own book of actions— thus the proud poet — is noth-
ing but his divan in which ghazals are written in memory of the

132

friend's kkatL 131 Ahmad Pasha in fifteenth- century Turkey used
this image inversely. The beloved, asked what this khatt of his was,
answered:

I have written Ahmad's words

with musk on tills rose cheek of mine — 132

certainly a delightful form of self-praise! Fuzuli, however, knows—
as many of the poets must have known— that the khatt of the rose-
cheeked friend is only a metaphor, by which one can fin ally reach
“the tablet of Reality / 1 that is, in the Sufi tradition, that love of beau-
tiful human beings can lead to the love of the Divine source of all
beauty * 133

But it was not only the khatt in general that inspired the poets.
The letters themselves offered them infinite possibilities for puns,
comparisons, and witty remarks. Do not the letters look outwardly
like rows of ants, while they possess the power of Solomon when it
comes to the world of meaning ? 134 Letters — thus says an Andalusian
poet— are like curls at the temples on the cheek of a gazelle , 1:15 a
fitting comparison, since the writing material was often gazelle skin.
And the writers knew well that Time writes not only a lovely black
khatt on the face of young fr iends but also “white lines from the
letters of old age’' on their own heads . 136

As the beauty of a page can be impaired by a single ugly letter,
thus good company suffers from intruding, uncongenial people:

Yesterday there was a rival in the friend's party,
unfitting, like a letter out of place . 137

In a mysterious way letters are connected with human beings. This
feeling works in two ways. On the one hand, man is the great alpha-
bet in which the meaning of creation is expressed; on the other
hand, letters resemble human beings, as it was taught by the callig-
raphers. Letters may therefore reflect the writer's state of mind. In
the Arabian Nights a love letter is written in a delicate hand because
the writer is a tender, slim girl . 138 It was common to describe the
work of a fine calligrapher in imagery from this sphere;

133

His oval shapes are equal in rank to the egg of the c Anqa bird,
and his tughrds are the royal falcon in flight. Each of his alifs is
as lofty as the stature of the sweetheart, each flourish a sign
pointing to the black tresses of the friend; the teeth of his sin
shining like the teeth of the beloved, the eyebrow of the Q ayn
[or “eye”] like the radiant brow of the idols * 1:19

Almost every letter could be used in this playful way, and even
the diacritical marks were used for comparison. Not only is the mole
of the beloved often such a mark— or vice versa the diacritical mark
appears "like a mole on the white face” 140 — but even the pupil of
the eye becomes a dot on the khatt. That may be so because the poet
stares uninterruptedly at the friend’s “down/ script”; or, since poets
want to avert the evil eye from the khatt of the beloved , 141 they may
use the pupil as sipand (wild rue) that is burned against the evil eye.

Since such puns usually sound tasteless in translation, particularly
when the symptoms of scabies are described in similes from callig-
raphy, 142 they have rarely interested the Western scholar; but they
are so deeply ingrained in the rhetorical technique of the Islamic
peoples that one has to take notice of them. Let us therefore turn
to the poets' alphabet, for as Safadi says in his commentary Al-ghayth
al-musafjam, “As for comparing human limbs with letters, the poets
have done that frequently .” 143

The alif ’ as we saw, has deep religious significance, but as it is
related to God as expressing His Unity and Unicity, it is also related
to man, since it represents the slender stature of the beloved. When
an Andalusian poet complains that he could not see how his friend
began to weep “because in the embrace he stood like an alif ” (i.e*,
looking at his feet ), 144 one immediately thinks of the classical and
modern calligrapher’s explanation of the various styles of an alif by
representing them as various postures of a standing person in a more
or less stiff position, with or without a beard (thus Ismayil Hakkl
Baltacloglifs examples ), 145 For this reason c Abdallah Marvarid, Hu-
sayn Bayqara’s witty secretary, could compare the sultan with his
ceremonial parasol to an alif with a madda over ii. 14 *

“The stature of the beloved stands straight in the middle of the
soul like an alif ” 147 (alif h indeed the central letter of jdn [soul]), as
also the cupbearers stand like alif among the boon companions (who,

134

we may surmise, were no longer so upright ). 148 Examples of this
kind are frequent from the days of I bn al-Mu c tazz. The arrow that
reaches the eye of the lover from the side of his beloved (either the
sharp glance or the eyelashes) is like an alif written in blood, as
Fuzuii thinks . 149 Th is idea was apparently common in the sixteenth
century, for Bad a uni quotes an almost identical Persian verse . 150
Another poet at Akbar’s court claims that he was so wounded by the
sword of his beloved that his breast is full of alifs like those which
are drawn on paper with a ruler . 151 This idea was extended by a
slightly later poet who, in complaining of his friend's cruelty, alludes
to the process of learning calligraphy by means of dots:

Like a child who draws the correct line over the dot,
the blow of his sword draws an alif over my scar , 152

More attractive is a Turkish iolk poet's example. Being in love with
a girl called Elif, everything that is straight seems to write her name,
whether it be the raindrops or the ducks swimming in the pond . 353

But as the poets would constantly compare the face of their be-
loved to die moon only to state then that the moon is a black slave
before this radiant beauty, even the alif is not enough to express the
elegance of the friend's stature, for the friend gracefully moves
about, while "alif cannot accept a movement,” that is, it cannot take
any of the Arabic vowel signs on it . 154 And the alif is an exceptional
letter, as Khaqani says in a praise poem:

This king is a king, as the alif is still an alif

Even though it is sometimes mixed with other letters . 155

The strongest contrast to the straight alif was the dal , bent upon
itself. While L Attar describes a brave old woman as having a heart
like an alif though she was shaped like a ddf I5t; his contemporary
Khaqani explains his miserable situation in a related image:

T came to the leader like a Kufic alif;

full of shame, with my head hanging like a ddl f I go away . 157

Fuzuii again thinks that the beloved has caused him to become
crooked like a dal :

135

arid when 1 now give up my head, I am excused,

For what an excuse would 1 find if she should say: '"There is no
dot on the dal !” i5S

The same letter can also he read as dull (pointing to, hinting at)
and was used frequently for additional puns:

Jami drew the dal of your tress and said:

This points to (ddll) my good fortune (dauiat)}^

For d is also the first letter of the word daulat.

The bd } so important in the religious sphere, has not inspired pro-
fane poets very often. They might see it sitting with a bleeding heart,
the dot beneath it being tears (the aiif appears, in the same line of
poetry, as a tongue that inaudibly tells the story of grief). 160 Or it
may be a little boat with an anchor, 161 while the thd, similar in shape,
was sometimes used to symbolize the three stones on which a kettle
is pul or, more rarely, a bow r l with beggars hurrying to it.

The group j-fy-dtik was fitting to describe the curls of the beloved.
The jim particularly was used for this purpose, for its dot would
represent the mole dose to the ear. The tip of the curl, similar to
the round of 1 the jrn, is for the loving poet the first letter oi jdn
(soul), 162 Bui it could also serve as comparison for the crooked beak
of a hawk “written by a left-handed person.” 163

The letter rd stands for the crescent moon because of its shape,
but it reminds the poets also of a dagger. The crescent moon of
Ramadan, which announces the fasting, is both a rd, the first letter
of Ramadan, and a dagger that cuts off joy and mirth for a month.
It also may be used to kill the lover. In early Arabic, one finds it
sometimes representing the sidelocks. 134

More prominent is the letters, which is generally connected with
teeth. Sa c di wrote:

If I bn Muqla would come once more to this world,

claiming to perform miracles in clear magic,

he could not draw with golden ink an alif like you

nor could he write with dissolved sil ver a jm like your mouth. 165

136

From the human “teeth" it was easy to reach comparison with the
crenellations of a powerful castle that appeared to a poet "like the
sin of sipihr , ” that is, the first letter of sipihr (sky). ,fifi Baqi, however,
has compared tire sin to split curls, which is not very common. 107

Sad usually represents almond-shaped eyes, so that a poet wrote
in a chronogram for the completion of the Red Fort in Delhi:

Everyone who wants anything but what Shah Jahan wishes;

The world be as narrow in his eye as the eye of the $ad! 10S

Jami, 150 years before him, had found a solution for his longing to
see the beloved:

I make my name c dshiq-t sddiq y "sincere lover/' so that,

When you read my letter, 1 see your face through the eye of the

Similar ideas are still found in Ghalib’s verse, Yunus Emre’s use of
the sad to point to the eyebrows is untypical, 170

The letter c ayn could serve many purposes, since it means both
“eye” and “fountain/ 5 and one may remember that this letter in cer-
tain positions (thus before a lif or Idm) was called by the classical cal-
ligraphers jam al-osad (lion’s mouth), 171 This expression is, however,
never alluded to in poetry, so far as I know. A typical example of
the traditional imagery is a verse by the Sindhi author Mirza Qalich
Beg:

I he mole which is over your eye seems to be an error:

It is some writer’s mistake, for there is no dot on the c ayn . 172

The “narrow eye” of the fa is mentioned once by Sana'i; 173 oth-
erwise, this letter did not inspire poets too much. Like all curved
letters, it might serve to describe the sidetocks of the beloved.

The following letter, qdf y was also connected from early times with
tresses. I bn al-Mu c tazz sings of a pretty girl serving wine, whose
sidelocks are like two qdfs. 174 Since the very name of this letter can
also be interpreted as pointing to Mount Qaf, the world-encircling

137

mountain, it was used rather frequently for various puns, all the
more as later poets loved to play with the first letter of concepts
central to their verse: qdf-i qurb , Mount Qaf, or the first letter of
'proximity;' or the qdf-i qand c at * the qdj of contentment, are ambig-
uous expressions that often recur in Persian and Turkish poetry*
Similarly, Ghalib speaks of the kaskisk-i kdf-i haram (the drawing of
the A, the first letter of karam, kindness) when he describes how the
long, stretched-out way drew him to someone from whom he ex-
pected k indness. 1 75

Kufic kdf\ from a Nishapur bowl, tenth century

In other cases k was, in its Kufic form, a symbol for narrowness—
“a heart like the kdf-i huff' 17 ** or, as Rami has it, “empty of intelli-
gence like a kdf-i Kuft T 177 — -while the Andalusian poets compared it
to “the lower part of a hound's mouth, whose upward line is nicely
curved” — a very nice picture indeed! I7K

kd f stretched form in the cursive hand, similar to a dog's mouth

The letter 1dm generally describes long tresses; and, while mfm has
its major importance in the religious sphere, it also designates, on
the profane level, everything narrow and minute. In classical Arabic
poetry, wine, when mixed, writes on the lines a series of mm s with-
out endings; 1 ' 11 hut the general object of comparison is the small
mouth of the beloved, for the smaller the mouth was, the more it
was praised by the poets* (Pictorial evidence for the Central Asian
type of beauty with a very tiny mouth is plentiful.) Now and then,
poets invented novel comparisons such as when Abu Nuwas com-
pared the spider that is closely pressed to the ground to a mim . 180

138

And, in other cases, not only the ringlet of the mtm was alluded to,
but the whole letter: “to make the alif into a mini” means “to hang
the head.”

The nun represents the beautifully arched eyebrow, even though
it is upside down, and the pupil or the mole could then represent
the dot inside the nun:

As for the calligrapher s, there comes from their pen
No mm more beautiful than your eyebrow , 181

That would be the traditional use of the letter. But the comparison
with sidelocks over the ear is also found , 182 and in descriptions of
nature nun could be understood as a crescent with a star * 188

The letter ha (Turkish pronunciation “he”) is called “two-eyed”
in its initial and central shape and was therefore interpreted, at least
from Sanaa's time onward, as weeping , 184 This image remained cur-

k -Jt

“two-eyed ha * '*, ha * called “cat’s face”

rent and is particularly common in the Turkish tradition where the
title of one of Asaf Ha let Celebes books of poetry, HE, harks back
to this tradition, building up its imagery upon the picture that one
sees now and then in small ' i urkish coffeehouses: the word Ah, with
an enormous alif, beside which a sad -loo king he sits and sheds tears
profusely, while in minute script is written at some point [Ah] min
al- c ashq wa kdldtihi (“Woe upon love and its states!”) — the beginning
of a verse by Jamb 18 * i he contemporary Persian sculptor Tanavoli
has very well expressed this sadness of the A in his delightful varia-
tions on the word hick (nothing), which looks like a cat and, in fact,
the initial form of hd* as used by the artist is called in Arabic wajh al-
hirr (cat’s face).

Jami turns to another rather gruesome use of the same letters and
curses his rival:

Everyone who opens his eye like a hd* toward the mtm of your mouth:
I’ll put a needle into his eye from the alif of my Ah . lft,i

139

The straight alif resembles a needle for applying antimony to the
eye, and this instrument was frequently used to blind people; the
sigh of the poet can work similarly upon those who dare to gaze at
the small mouth of his beloved,

Compared with the imaginative use of the hd\ the wdw was less
inspiring for the poets. Early poets in the Arabic tradition saw the
water bubbles in the wine glass as wdw$ i%1 or compared the curls
over the forehead to itJ KW More frequent is a grammatical pun, such
as to call something 'like the wdw in c Amr/’ that is, silent, for the
written wdw at the end of the name c Amr is not pronounced. Even
a twentieth-century poet like Ahmad Shauqi, the poet laureate of
Egypt, thought that the beauty of the whole world compared to the
Bosporus is like the wdw in c Amr, that is, without value , Lg9

Much more common is the Idin-alif understood as a single letter,
as the hadith quoted earlier shows. Apparently, before it was inter-
preted as a ligature, poets could compare the trace of feet in the
sand to a Idm-alif, 190 The idea of Idm-alif as symbol of very close
relationship is found as early as in Abu Xu was, who says:

1 saw you in my dream, embracing me as the Id of the scribe
embraces the alif ] 191

an expression that points to the Id al-warrdqiyya, the Idm-alif written
in one stroke. This imagery, which might lead a poet to “envy the
Idm-alif when he saw it embracing on the lines in the book,” 192 was
so common that it appears even in Sind hi folk poetry where Shah
c Abdul Latif, taking up a verse ascribed to Qadi Qadan, exlaims:

O scribe, as you have artistically combined the alif with the lam.
Thus my heart is connected with the Friend. 193

For Asaf Haler telehi, on the other hand, Idm-alif has lifted its arms
and cries for help, 194

That goes together with the tendency of many poets to play with
the meaning Id (no) of this combination of letters:

140

The fern -shaped cheek and the alif -like stature of the bel oved
Make definite (mukaqqaq) reply to the question of the lover: La,

No! 195

Or, in an Andalusian description of nature:

I asked the stars in the night, “Will the darkness end?’'

They wrote an answer through the Pleiades: “La, No!” 196

Sometimes, however, the poet had better luck:

The niin of the eyebrow and the c ayn of the eyelids,
together with the mini of the mouth, give the answer na c am f
“YesA 1 * 7

Such combination games were extremely popular with the poets of
the Persian world:

Your eye is a sad, and the tip of your curl a dal,

And from these two I have got a hundred (sad) dreams!

The poet may see from the alif of the stature, the lam of the tresses,
and the mm of the mouth, which he carries in his heart’s tablet, the
word alum (pain) 19S — if lie does not prefer to think of the mysteri-
ous letters at the beginning of Sura 2«

Most of these puns sound very silly when translated, but at times
pleasant little jokes can be detected, such as Ghalib’s play with the
mini and the lam of mouth and curl, which are enough provision for
him; taken together, these two letters read rmd (wine). 200

A great poet like Sana’i did not refrain from explaining his own
name in similar letter puns: the sin of the teeth, the alif of the stat-
ure, the nun of the eyebrow, and the yd of yamin (right hand) are
shown in the word Sana’i . 201 But even he, like Abu Nuwas long be-
fore him, cannot avoid some obscene transformations of letters. 202

After reading thousands of verses filled with this imagery, one is
easily able to draw the picture of the ideal beloved of Persian poets
as made up from letters.

141

j & > y *r>y>$J..

Human face made up of letters according to the usage of Persian
poets

A particular aspect of this imagery are the school scenes that were
popular at least since Nizami described how Layla and Majnun went
to school together / 03 a scene frequently illustrated; and a very
charming description of such a scene has been composed by Shavkh
Ghalib Dede in his Turkish epic Hiisn u a§k, which retells the story
of unlucky lovers who had grown up together only to be separated
later:

When he read alif he thought of the friend's stature,
and raised cries up to the Throne.

When he readjm, it was pointing {dal) to the curl:
from one dot he understood the situation.

He was afraid of the dagger-sharp ra
and could not keep the mim on his Ups:
the teeth of the saw-shaped sin
cut off the branch of his life , 204

And one should also not forget the admonition Jami gave to his
young son not to folio w ? a bad companion, for when the straight alif
comes into the embrace of the crooked lain, it becomes crooked it-
self, Further, the boy should not show his teeth like a sin smiling at
the one and the other, but rather be like a mim whose mouth is too
narrow for speech * 205

142

Besides allusions to, and comparisons with, single letters, the di t-
ferent styles of writing arc also used for poetical purposes. The dou-
ble meaning of khatt as well as of naskh of fered unending possibilities
for puns to which the muhaqqaq with its primary meaning “certain 75
was added skillfully. Even serious theologians like the indefatigable
Egyptian professor Jalaluddin as-Suyuti (d. 1505) indulged in such
games, not to mention the numerous minor poets whose verses are
quoted extensively by Turkish historians, 206 Yet, the great mystic
c Attar had already said:

. , , from that khatt it is ascertained {muhaqqaq)
that your coquetry became abrogated {naskh)

The favorite script of the poets was no doubt nhani, whose very
name evokes the fragrance of sweet basil, raihan. From among the
great number of these images we shall single out Hafiz's lovely wish
for happiness:

as long as in spring the breeze on the page of the garden
writes a thousand signs in rfhdm script, 208

And we feel with the author who praised a calligrapher by claiming:

His nhdnt script is, so to speak, a flower
which every angel wants to smell. 20 - 1

Poets might compare their divans to metaphorical rose gardens
that will be envied by real gardens when the raihdn twig “lifts its head
from the basmala” 2X{) or see spring arranging “a royal document in
basil script on which he has put the dew as a seal.” 2 u However, the
seventeenth-century Indian writer certainly goes too far when he
praises his beloved in religious terminology:

His life-bestowing lip is Jesus, the rlhan of his khatt a copy of the
Koran.

Religion became doubled, because this face gave a Koran to
Jesus! 212

143

Another type of script often mentioned is ghubdr, the dust script.
Thus, the poet says, wondering why the down on his young friend's
cheeks suddenly had become so visible:

Th v. ghuhdr of your khatt on the lip became, I am afraid, abolished
{naskk),

tor suddenly this naskk became thuluth and tauqV [i.e., grew into
large types of calligraphy ]. 213

Hafiz is more poetical than the just-mentioned hack poet when he
says in a multiple murd € dt an-nazir:

My beloved, if it should happen that I reach the dust of your feet,

I shall put on the tablet of my eyes ghubdr script . 214

That is, “I shall rub the dust of your feet on my eyes.” And Kalim
invented an absurd but fitting comparison when he described the
famine in the Deccan by claiming that the inkwell has become so
dry in this dry season that every pen can write only “dust script .” 215
Bedi! takes over the inherited images and gives them, as usual, a
more pessimistic bent:

Our dust writes letters toward the friends,
but with ghubdr script . 2

Somewhat later, when shikasta was introduced, Fani compared the
friend’s khatt with skikasta, which breaks (shikast ) the value of ghubdr
script . 217 Allusions to skikasta are frequent during the later seven-
teenth century and the eighteenth century when the concept of
“breaking” {shikast) became a key word in Indo-Perstan poetry.
Slightly earlier, the Turks had introduced for the chancelleries the
qirma (kirma) script, a name that means “broken.” Therefore, Baqi
wants to write about the teeth of an enemy with qirma and to fill the
air with dust (ghubdr) from the copy of his body ; 218 that is, he wants
to perform magic and break his teeth by describing them in “bro-
ken” script and pulverize his body by using “dust script” when men-
tioning him.

While allusions to other types of writing are rarely used, 2ia the
tughrd, originally the sultan’s handsign, attracted poets because in its

144

harmonious shape it was a fitting metaphor for the eyebrows, when
the whole face was, as we saw, interpreted as a Koran copy- It seems
that this imagery was used predominantly during the sixteenth cen-
tury when Shah Ismahl the Safavid was one of its representatives . 220
But while he and other poets of his time admired the tughrd of the
eyebrows as drawn by the primordial Calligrapher, a minor poet
from Sind did not hesitate to compare the qashqd, the caste mark, of
a pretty Hindu to “the tughrd of the book of beauty .” 221 In religious
poetry, again (particularly in descriptions of Muhammad’s mi c rdj)
the night, the stars, and the moon can function as dark script, sand,
and tughrd of the heavenly decree . 222

The Islamic poets could interpret everything as a book and see
writing everywhere. In a dirge for a great calligrapher it is natural
to write that “cruel Death stretched out his hand to the inkwell and
drew with his wrathful hand the pen over the page of his prac-
tice .*’ 223 But much more than this. The leaves appeared to Muslim
calligraphers as letters , 224 and their beloved was a book lull of beauty,
which to describe one would need as paper perhaps the rose, and
as script the narcissus.

Lovers invented ever new images to tell of their longing in calli-
graphic images. When an early Arab poet called out, “If it were
possible, I would take the skin of my cheek as paper, one of my
fingers as pen, and the pupil of my eye as ink !” 22:1 then Ahmad
Pasha in fifteenth-century Turkey composed one of the most de-
lightful love letters:

a treatise of longing on the page of the heart,

writing the complaint of the nightingale in the rose garden

with the hand of the morning breeze. . . . 22G

They would see the hand of the wind write letters on the pond that
could be read and sung by the birds , 227 and even the soft skin of a
snake appeared to early poets of Baghdad as a “book with lines on
it” 22 * In short, the whole world was a book, as Sana’i says:

The form of the world is like a book

in which there is a fetter {band ) and a piece of advice (pand )
together.

145

Its outward form is a fetter for the body of the accursed one;
its inner meaning is a piece of advice in the heart of the wise . 2251

Many poets were aware that nothing in this world is stable. Is not
L dlam (world) composed from the words alam (pain) plus the letter
c ayn , with which c adam (nonexistence) begins ? 230 And even though
the happiness of the lucky few may draw the line of extinction , naskh,
over the thought of paradise, yet suddenly the pen may also cross
out the word daulat (fortune ). 331

Akbar’s court poet Fayzi very daringly claimed to have seen the
book of existence and space chapter by chapter , 332 and a somewhat
later Kashmiri poet sings in a rare optimistic mood:

Everyone who has seen the book of the days from beginning to the
end

has seen the day between the lines of nights ! 233

But Sarrnad, the eccentric Judeo-Persian mystical poet in Dara Shi-
koh’s entourage, cried out in a moment of despair that everything
in the manuscript of the divan of his life was wrong (ghalal ) 234 — the
script was wrong, the meaning was wrong, the orthography w r as
wrong, and the composition was wrong. His contemporary Fani,
however, continued the more positive evaluation of the world as a
book:

The world is like a book, full of knowledge and justice.

The bookbinder Fate has put its two volumes in two covers
The binding is the sharia, and the religions are the pages,
Tonight we all are pupils, and the Prophet is the master . 235

He is not too far from a statement by Frith] of Schuon who once
remarked that God has created the world like a book, and His rev-
elation has descended into the world under the form of a book. But
man must hear the Divine Word in this creation and must return to
God by means of the Word. “God has become Book for man, and
man must become Word for God /’ 236

Stars and flowers, man and angel are parts of this great book in
which innumerable secrets have been written, which the eyes of the

146

heart have to be trained to decipher. Khaqani knew that the alpha-
bet he had written with red tears on his cheeks could finally be dis-
carded, and,

I forgot that enigma, w r hose title w h as Existence, 2 37

an expression that may have inspired Ghalib’s verse:

Death is a letter whose title is Living. 238

The nhdn script on the dust (gkub&r), the fugkra of the new moon
on the page of the sky, the perfect beauty of a face that is as flawless
as a copy of the Koran: they all are parts of this great book of cre-
ation. The poets caught a glance of this book and tried to tel) of it
in images taken from the noblest of arts, calligraphy. And yet, in
the end they would probably agree with Kalim, who reminds us of
our imperfect knowledge of the book of the world and what is in it:

We are not aware of the beginning and the end of this world—
the first and the last page of this old book have fallen off! 239

“Everything is perishing except the Face of God” (Sura 28/88) in
mirror script. Egypt, sixteenth century

147

Appendix A

A mystical alphabet according to the order of letters in Sans krit,
elaborated in the Dhauqi bran ch of the Chishtiyya Sabiriyya, and
published in Hz. Shah Sayyid Muhammad Shauqi, Sirr-i di lharan .

I he list of the Lords (mbb) and those who are ruled by them (mar-
bub), that is, the Divine Names and the names on the plane of crea-
tion, the pronounced letters, and the lunar mansions.

Name of the plane

Divine Name of creation Letter

L badi c , Originator c aql-i hull alif

Universal Intellect

This attribute is special to God Most High and is the origin of the
capacity to create from nothing, which is directed to die Universal
Intellect, which is also called the Pen and is the locus of manifes-
tation for ibdd c f creating from nothing, because from the Pen the
word kun , u Be! ,+ comes into existence without the previous exis-
tence of matter, time, and likeness. The name badt Q is also di-
rected toward the letter alif , out of which all letters proceed, and
is likewise directed toward the mansion of skarafayn, the first of all
lunar mansions.

2- hdHthy Invoking nafs-i hull ha’

Universal Soul

BdHth points to the evoking capacity by which the Universal Intel-
lect works on the bodies by mediation of the soul, From the Uni-

149

versal Intellect the Divine Order, that is, “Be!” has come into ex-
istence. ( he Universal Soul is also called the Well-Preserved
Tablet; that is the hist thing created, which was existentialized
through the Universal Intellect

3. bdfin, The Inner tahi at-i hull c ayn

Universal Nature
[physis]

It is the origin of the natural capacities, in which the things are
hidden. They appear through the nafas-i rahmdm f “the breath of
the Merciful,"

4, dkhir f The Last habd hd f

Primordial matter

The essence of the primordial matter (hayvld) is the last step in
the existence of bodies. Existence in this rank is of extreme beauty
because it descends from utter fineness (latdfat) into utter density
(kathdfat). The forms of the created bodies in the world of com-
posed things appear in it,

5, zahir, The Outward shakl-i hull ghayn

Universal Form

The appearance of the primordial matter depends upon the Uni-
versal Form, Without form and shape, the primoridal matter can-
not become visible. . . . The Universal Form comprises all forms
and figures like the falak-i atlas, which comprises everything that
is in the spheres, the stars, and the mansions.

6. hakim 3 The Wise jism-i hull khd f

Universal Body

The combination of the various natures comes to pass through
wisdom. The Universal Body is the first form of nature in which
the various natures manifest their order, as the Universal Body
accepts heat and cold, humidity and dryness, God Almighty has
made manifest in it the dif ferent dispositions of the various forms.

7. muhif, The All-Embracing The Throne qdf

The Divine Throne embraces all bodies. Since the Greatest Throne
is embracing and encircling, it belongs to the bodies.

8, shakur, The Grateful The Footstool kdf

This is the beginning of the legal prescriptions and prohibitions
and animates words that cause thanks.

150

9. ghant, The Rich,
The Independent

falak.4 atlas jtm

falak4 buruj
The highest sphere
Ghani is also called gkani ud-dahr , the one who is independent of
Time, for from this name, Time [and fate] seeks and receives
help. Near th efalak4 atlas is the sphere of the zodiacal signs. The
falak4 atlas has no need for stars.

10. muqtadir, The Powerful The sphere of shin

mansions

In the world of elements these mansions are the causes of good
and evil. This is the ceiling of hell and the floor of paradise.

IT rabb y The Lord Sphere of Saturn yd*

The first sphere is that of Saturn, connected with Saturday. It is
the ascendant of princes and great men. It is the station of the
bayt al-ma c mur and the Sidrat al-muntahd, the ''Lotos tree of the
utmost border.” Abraham is located there. The bayt al-ma c mur is
located exactly opposite the earthly Ka c ba« It has two gates, one
in the east, the other one in the West, The eastern one is called
Gate of the Appearance of Lights* through which every day 18,000
angels enter. The western gate is the Gate of the Occultation of
Lights through which these angels disappear, not to return till the
day of resurrection. The Sidrat al-muntahd is also in this sphere; it
is in symbolical language a tree whose leaves are like an elephant’s
ear and whose fruits are like earthen vessels. The blessed eat its
fruits by which dishonesty disappears from their breasts. On its
leaves is written Subbuh quddus rahb al-mald *ik, ''Most Glorified, Most
Holy, the Lord of the angels.” The works of mankind end here;
that is why it is called the tree of the outmost limit. Beneath this
tree is Gabriel’s abode, On this tree is written; “What no eye has
seen and no ear has heard, and what did not come to any human
being’s mind.”

12. Q alim, The Knowing Sphere of Jupiter dad

With this sphere, Thursday is connected. Divine inspiration and
making alive the hearts of scholars with knowledge, kindness, and
good ethical qualities is connected with this name and this sphere.
To obtain one’s livelihood and to heal the sick are also connected
with this place. Moses is located in it, and its overseer is Michael.

151

13. qahir. The Overpowering Sphere of Mars lam

Its day is Tuesday. Aaron and John the Baptist are located there.
This sphere is the locus of manifestation of Divine grandeur and
revenge. The worship of the angels of this sphere is to bring dis-
tant things near, to make the invisible visible, to entrench faith in
the heart, to defend the world of mysteries against the infidels,
and [they are further occupied with] revenge, blaming, and press-
ing the souls. Its spirituality is that power that helps and strength-
ens those who wield the sword and take revenge.

14. nur, The Light Sphere of the Sun nun

From its light the whole world becomes illuminated. This is the
axis of all spheres and of the world [being the fourteenth among
the twenty-eight stations]* God Most High has proclaimed it to be
the makdn-i c ulyd f “the highest place ” Jesus, Solomon, David, and
jirjis [St. George], and most of the prophets are located there. It
is also one station among the “Muhammadan stations.” Its day is
Sunday, and its governor Israfil [the anget that blows the trumpet
for resurrection]. It is a place where the Divine lights and myster-
ies descend. Lowliness and height, pressing and relief, and all the
affairs beneath the sidral al-muntaka to what is under the earth are
under the disposal of the angels of this sphere*

15. musawwir , The Former, Shaper Sphere of Venus rdf

Its day is Friday* It is the place of the c dlam al-mithdl [the world of
spiritual similitudes] and Joseph's place. Its governor is Sura'il,
who responds to the calling angels. He forms the picture of the
child in the wombs of the mothers. The angels of this sphere are
ordered to inspire and teach and instruct children, to console sad
hearts and show mildness and kindness and love, and to kindle
the fire of love in the hearts of the lovers and to preserve the
figure of the beloved ones in their hearts, and also to bring mes-
sages and to carry out the orders of those with authority (ahl-i
tamkin ).

16. mutysi. The Counting Sphere of Mercury tct

Mercury is the scribe of heaven; his day is Wednesday* It is Noah's
dwelling place* The governor there is Nu c ahil* Reckoning and
writing, sending down of knowledge, guidance toward the Divine
lights, and making spiritual forms pass over into bodily shapes are
connected with this sphere.

152

17. mubtn, The Clear; Clearing Sphere of the Moon dal

Its day is Monday. Adam resides there. Ismahl is the governor,
fhe relation between the earth and this sphere is like that of the
body and the spirit. It is entrusted with the arrangement of the
earth. Insight concerning the fates of times can be attained
through it.

18. qabid, The Pressing, Grasping The ethereal sphere id*

The ethereal globe and what is in it; it is the one with which dry-

ness is connected.

19. fiayy, The Living The sphere of air za ’

It is the area in which clouds and wind and vapor are. This area
[contains] the provision for the continuation of life. The angel of
thunder is created by means of the air.

20. itiuhyi, The Life-Bestowing The sphere of water sin

God Almighty has made everything appear from water * as it is
said in the Koran: “And We made everything alive from water”
[Sura 21/30].

21. mumft, The Death-Bestowing The terrestrial globe sad

The globe of dust, which is the place where the dead return and
most living beings have no life ( c aysh) in it.

22. c aziz, The Precious, Powerful Minerals zd*

Those things which have great value for the normal people are
found there.

23. razmq 7 The Nourisher Plants iha

In the plants is nourishment for most animals. Through the name
of The Nourisher all kinds of nourishment have been arranged
and, through nourishment, everything that pertains to the up-
bringing of all species. All plants are the manifestations of this
very name. Of necessity; every kind of nourishment, be it sensual
or spiritual, sensuous or intelligible, can be obtained from the
plants — as God has also placed great power in medicinal herbs.

24. mudhill. The Lowering Animals dhal

God has lowered the animals by placing them at man’s disposal.
Predatory animals are also among them, and these are under the
spell of the name The Lowering.

25. qawiy The Powerful, Strong
God has made the angels powerful

Angels

/<*’

153

26. latif. The Subtle Djinns bd T

The djinns are subtle bodies that are invisible*

27. jdmi c f The Combining Man mim

Man is the one that unites the mysteries of the Divine Names and
the realities of the created world, and is the spirit of the world.

28. mfi c ad-darajat, High of Rank The all-embracing wdw

rank

By "being all-embracing” it is pointed to the kaqiqa muhammadiyya,
which is higher and more elevated than the human reality.

In this chart in Urdu, which combines philosophical, gnostic, and
mystical ideas, the traditional Sanskrit order of letters, beginning
with the hard aspirants and ending with the labials, gives some
amazing results, which fit well into the general scheme of letter mys-
ticism. The alif stands, as in traditional Sufi thought and in callig-
raphy, for the originator; qaf \ generally connected with the world-
encircling mountain Qaf, corresponds here to the Divine Throne as
described in Sura 2/256; yd\ the last letter of the Arabic alphabet,
stands for the sphere of Saturn, w hich is the last sphere that human
thought can reach and that is, astrologically, connected with the
number eleven, which rank it occupies in this system* Mm, usually
connected with the Prophet, appears here as the letter of humanity,
which corresponds to the general notion of the mim in Ahmad, being
the letter of contingency or, as a Panjabi mystic says, “the shawl of
humanity” that separates Ahmad/Muhammad from Ahad, the One
God. 1’he letter wdw , with its grammatical role as the conjunction
‘ and,” well expresses the position of the kaqiqa muhammadiyya as
forming the link between the Divine and created beings.

154

Appendix

Idraki Beglari

In Praise of a Calligrapher
Weil done, O scribe, who with a flowing pen
draws letters, beautiful as Manias art!

A skilled calligrapher, whose radiant eye

has scattered musk upon a camphor-sheet!
He showed an alif first, so straight and tall,
its shape was like a graceful cypress tree*
The alif is well honored in the world,

and everywhere it takes the highest seat,
And it clasps nothing closely to its breast —
its crown is therefore higher than the sky.

A lump of ambergris beneath the ha 3 —

he cast an anchor from the musky boat!

I saw his ta ; my soul became refreshed,

as Noah’s ark came swimming in the sea*

There were some dots connected with the tkd
some beggars hastened to the amber plate!

A hundred roses opened from each jim,

and curly hyacinths from jasmine leaves!

Jasmine appeared here from the loop of chim;
with dots it furnishes some silver coins.

1 he ha* was bashful, modest, full of shame,
and thus retrained from wearing any dots.
The benefactor put some dots on it;

it looked like magic stones in serpents’ heads.

He drew a kha on slates of ivory,

he placed a crown upon the hoopoe 1 s head.

He drew a dal and dhdl on paper, like

the mole and down upon a lovely face.

From ra and id 1 he made the eyebrows black
and drew a bow of musk upon the moon.

The teeth o f sin will saw the heathen’s head
when he becomes confused in ignorance;

The s of Islam turns into a saw
to punish him for infidelity!

He brandishes the skin of sword (shamskir) now high;
he wants to lower yonder blackish hosts.

He rubbed collyrium \n sad's small eye,

he put a beauty spot on dad's white cheek.
For when the artist draws the shape of sad,

its blackness makes you think of lovely eyes.

156

The value of the td J is only “nine,”

But add one dot: “nine hundred” is the za!

Into eyeliners turned lie now his pen
to fill z ayn s eye with blue collyrium;

He then placed on the c ayn ' s face one more dot

as beautiful as moles (ghayn) on moonlike cheeks,

He drew a fa* then on a pure white slate:
a darling with its head on pillars soft!

Since qaf is rhe beginning of “Qur'an”

God granted it the rank of “hundred” here.

Like salty earth appears the empty page—

the kaf becomes the saltspoon on this field!

A lam like tresses of the lovely ones-

he showed a serpent in the garden too!

The head of mini is like the friend's small mouth;
the tress, beware! is like a serpent's tail.

He drew a nun then with his nimble pen,

as if it were the ear of moon-faced friends,

And put a dot into the ring of nun t

as well shaped as a pierced ear can be.

The scribe made run the steed, that is, his pen:
as ball and mallet came the he and wdw!

And when he twisted the lam-alif: this

was called the tress and stature of the friend.

157

)

J
J

0 (J

Bay am

BS()(A)S

BED

GAL

GMS

Habib

Huart

JAOS

IRAS

RE1

Abbreviations in Notes

and Bibliography

Mehdi Bayani, Tadhkira-t khushnivudn: nustaHiq-nivisan, a comprehen-
sive work about the masters of nasta c liq in Iran, in Turkey and India
Bulletin of the School of Oriental (and African) Studies
Bulletin des Etudes Orient ales
Encyclopedia of Islam, second edit ion

Brockclmann, Geschkhte der arabischen Literature with S t supplement vol-
umes

Gibb Memorial Series

Habib, Khatt u hhattdtdn (Halt u hattatan), a useful survey of calligra-
phers to the late nineteenth century

Huart, Les calligmphist.es et les mimaturi&tes , the first European survey of
the history of calligraphy, based on Persian and Turkish sources, and
still valuable
J ournal Aszatique

journal of the American Oriental Society
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society

c Ali Efendi, Mandqib-i hunamardn ( Menakib-i hiinerveran), based on a
Persian biographical work, this Turkish book from the late seventeenth
century gives some interesting insights into the life of a scribe and his
approach to the an and the artists

Mmorsky, Calligraphers and Painters, the important translation of Qadi
Ahmad's work which is particularly valuable for Timurid and even more
Safavid Iran

Revue des etudes islamiques

159

-S' Supplement

SH Inal, Son Hattatlar } a continuation of earlier biographical dictionaries of

Turkish calligraphers, very important particularly for the late nine-
teenth and early twentieth centuries

TH Mustaqimzade* Tuhfat al-khattMn (Tuhfet el-hattatin), a voluminous book

by an eighteenth-century Naqshbandi, upon whose work Habib relies
heavily

160

Notes

CHAPTER ONE

1. May if ed. Majnun, Risdla, p. 1.

2. Qalqashandi, Subfr al-a Q sh&, voL III, p. 35-

3. See Erdmann, Arahische Schriftze&hen ah Omamente, and Sellheim, “Die Ma-
donna mit der lahada**

4. For this development see Fuck, Die arabiseken Studien in Europa,

5. Grobmann, Arabise! ie Paldographie, is the most scholarly work on the devel-
opment of the Arabic script in the first centuries. The articles in the new EJ , Khatt,
Kitdb, Kitdbat, Kdtib, deal extensively with the development of calligraphy, epigra-
phy, and secretarial .skills. In addition, a number of more general works have
been published in the last two decades, after Kiihnel, Islamische Sckriftkunst (pub-
lished during World War II}, hat! given the first introduction to our subject, which
was both scholarly and delightfully written. For the history of Arabic writing in
general, not especially calligraphy, Moritz, Arabic Paleography, is still indispensable.
Schimmel, Islamic Calligraphy , was written for the historian of religions, while Sa-
fadi, Islamic Calligraphy, gives a good, reliable survey of the development and has
plentiful illustrations. Martin Lings, in The Quranic Art of Calligraphy and Illumina-
tion, offers superb examples of calligraphy as used for Korans, and is a fine guide
in this field. Lately, Hasan Massoudy, Calligraphic Arabe vivante, has produced a
book on calligraphy that is written, and partly illustrated, by one of the leading
modern calligraphers. A vast survey of material, unfortunately not very well ar-
ranged, is /.aynuddins Musaunmr al-khatl al-^arabi, in ’which the reader finds thou-
sands of examples of the different styles- On the other hand, the beautifully pro-
duced book by Khatibi and Sijelmasi, Splendour of Islamic Calligraphy, suffers from
an inadequate and partly incorrect, rather badly translated text. Among the cata-
logues of special exhibitions held in the last years, A. Welch, Calligraphy and the
Arts of the Muslim World, is a good and instructive introduction to the various

161

applications of calligraphy; A, Raeuber, hl&mi&che Schnnschrift, has a special chap-
ter on modern calligraphy. Every work on Islamic art deals with calligraphy' par-
ticularly rich is Pope, Survey of Persian Art; a number of smaller Turkish studies
have been devoted to the topic as well. Every issue of the Arabic magazine Fikrun
tea Farm since 1964 contains examples of classical and modem calligraphy.

6. Abbott, The Rue of the North Arabic Script and “Arabic Paleography/ 1

7. Thus QA, p, 53, and in Sultan- c A1i T s Risdla, QA, p. 107; this tradition was
apparently generally accepted, for even Akbar’s chronicler, Abu'l-Fazl, A’in-i Ak-
bari, vol 1, 105 (transl.), mentions it.

8. Rosenthal, Four Essays, p. 24.

9. Examples in Moritz, Arabic Palaeography, pis, 1, 44; Safadi, Islamic Calligraphy t
p. 8. Early writing often has a tendency toward, slanting, as the examples in Moritz
show.

10. QA, p. 11.

11. Rosenthal, Four Essays, p. 59.

12. Lings, Tke Quranic Art of Calligraphy, chap. L

13. Mez, Renaissance des 1 stems, p. 327.

14. El, vol. IV, p, 207, kMdb>

15. Abu f l-Aswad ad-Du’ali, the qddi of Basra (d. 69/688-89), is credited with
inventing the diacritical marks; according to another tradition, it was Abu Su lay-
man Vahya al-Laythi who “was inspired to put diacritical marks while copying the
Koran," TH, p, 583.

16. Hoenerbach, Die dichterischen VergUichc, p. 151.

17. Pages from this Koran in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, in
the Metropolitan Museum New York, and in private collections; see Schimmel,
Islamic Calligraphy, pi. V a; A. Welch, Calligraphy, no. 3.

18. M assignor^ La Passim . . . d'al Hoseyn ibn M amour al Hallaf vok 1, p,
168,

19. TH , p. 370, mentions Madi ibn Muhammad al-Ghafiqi (d. 183/799) and p.
112, Ishaq ibn Murad ash-Shaybani (d. 206/821-22, more than a hundred years
old). That would place the beginning of Kufic calligraphy in the mid -eighth cen-
tury.

20. Lings, The Quranic Art of Calligraphy, pi. 10.

21. Al-Mu c izz ibn Badis, who tried to free Tunisia from Fatimid rule, is men-
tioned as the author of a treatise on calligraphy that is called either z Umdat al-
kv.ttfih wa c iddat dhawF l-albab or c Umdat al-kuttdh ft sifatVl-fyibr wal-aaldm tea l-khalt;
see GAL S, 1, 473.

22. Schroeder, "What Was the badF Script?”

23. Pages from the Koran have often been reproduced: Kuhnel, Islamische
Schrftkunst, fig. 12; Sc him me 1 1 Islamic Calligraphy , pi. VIII a; Lings, The Quramc
Art of Calligraphy f pi. 17; A. Welch, Calligraphy, no. 13, A qualifying paper in the
Fine Arts Department, Harvard University, by Beatrice St. Lament, 1982, deals
with this Koran; the author was able to find a group of 55 hitherto unknown
pages of this Koran in Istanbul, which show that the Koran was hound not as a
whole but in codices containing one juz each (on ejuz’ constitutes one thirtieth of

162

the full text). I he date should be around 1100 or slightly later; Lings, The Quranic
Art of Calligraphy, pi. 16, has a Koran in similar, though less elaborate eastern
Kufi, signed by one c Ali* and dated 485/1092. Likewise Habibi, A Short History of
Calligraphy , offers very similar examples written by masters from Ghazni and dated
in the second half of the eleventh and mid-twelfth centuries, pp, 178, 182.

24. Kuhnel, Islamische Schnftkunst, p. 8,

25. See A. Welch, Calligraphy f fig. 1\

26. A gtxxl introduction to the problems of inscriptions on early ceramics is
Lisa Volov, "Plaited Kufie on Samanid F.pigraphic Pottery.”

27. Flic dissertation ol Bassem Zaki deals with this development, Harvard Uni-
versity, 1976.

28. For Spain see Ocana Jimenez, El cufica hispano, pp. 47-48*

29. Bivar, “Seljuqid Ziarets of Sar-i Pul.”

30. See the figures in Schimmeb Islamic Calligraphy, pi. 1 (Saragossa), and p. I2 t
fig. n (Sar-i Pul),

31. The best survey of a group of plaited inscriptions is Flury, Islamische Schrift-
bdnder: Amida-Diyarbekir.

32. Ettinghausen, "Arabic Epigraphy" and Aanavi* “Devotional Writing; ‘Pseudo-
Inscriptions 1 in Islamic Art,”

33. Bom bad. The Kufie Inscription in Persian Verses in the Court of the Royal Palace
of Mas Hid III at Ghazni .

34 + A particularly beautiful example of a shatranji z Ali from a Turkish manu-
script of the later fifteenth century in Ettinghausen, “Die Islamische Zeit*” in Die
I iirkei und ihre Kunsischatze . A line square Muhammad on a Turkish linen kerchief
is in A, Welch, Calligraphy, no. 36.

35. See Grohmann, Aralmche PaUiogtapkie and Dietrich, Arabise he Brief e.

36. The best-known handbooks are as-Suli, Adah al-kuttab, and I bn Durusta-
wayh, Kitdh aGkuttdb; see also Sourdel, “Le Livre dcs Secretaires.”

37. An autograph of Qalqashandfs Subh al-a'sha in the Library of al-Azhar,
dated 799/1397, in Nforitz, Arabic Palaeography t pL 171. For an analysis of this
important work see Bjdrkman, Beitrdge zur Geschickte der Staatskanzlei.

38. I bn Wahb ,Al-burhdn f p, 344 t gives a good introduction; he himself belongs
to an old secretarial family.

39. Rosenthal, Four Essays, p. 32,

40. I bn Wahb, Al-hurhdn, p, 344.

41. A nice poetical description of a scribe working on a scroll that he unfolds
on his lap, by Abu Nuwas* quoted in Wagner, Abu Nuxws, p. 381.

42. Mez, Renaissance des Is lams, p, 168, according to Suhki, Tabaadt ash-shah Hy m,

vol. II, p. 230, ~

43. Habib , p, 76; cf. Huarl, pp. 93—94; Radruddin, master in all styles, was the
son-in-law of Mir- r Ali Tabriz!, the first calligrapher of nastaHtq.

44. Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddima, trans. Rosenthal, VoL II* p, 390.

45. Hafiz* Divan, ed. Ahmad-Na’ini, no. 203; ed. Brock haus no. 247; a good
example of musahal in EI f vol. V, p[. XXXVI 6.

46. Khaqani, Dwdtt, p, 411; cf. ibid,, p, 424; "the blind mim of the scribes.”

163

47, Ayver du Fatih devri hattatlad, fig. 32; Kuhnel, "Die osmanische TughraT

48. The 687th night; "Asma c i and the Three Girls from Basra.”

49. Abu Nuwas, in Suli, Adab al-kuttdb, quoted by Wagner, Atm Nuwds t p. 324.
Moritz's examples in Arabic Palaeography show that many profane manuscripts up
to the eleventh century were very sparsely, if at ail, marked,

50, Rosenthal, Four Essays , p. 45* Hamza al-Mahani, At-tanink shows the dan-
gers inherent in leaving out or mixing up the diacritical marks; see Chapter 4,
note 5, below.

51* Hoenerbach, Die dickterischen Vergleicke, p* 99.

52. Hamza al-Isfahani, At-tanbih, p. 94.

53 , The story of the first qalandar.

54. I bn ar-Rawandi, Rabat as-yudur, pp* 437-38, gives the ratios* For an analysis
see Ahmad Moustafa, The Scientific Construction of the Arabic Alphabet/ 1 men-
tioned s n Soucek, "The Arts of Calligraphy,” p, 21.

55, Rosenthal, Four Essays, p, 33.

56* Unver-Athari, Ibn al-Bawwdb, p. 65. A panegyric poem by the scribe- poet
Kushajim of Aleppo, in Kushajim, Diwdn, pp. 398 ff,

57. Unver-Athari, ibn al-Bazvwdb, p. 66. A fine pun is quoted by Zamakhshari:
In his khatf- (“script/down”) is the good luck t hazz, for every eyeball, as if it were
the script of Ibn Muqla.

58. GAL S , III, 35*

59* CM, p. 56,

60, Mez, Renaissance des I slams, p. 168.

61, Cf* Unver-Athari, Ibn ai-Bawxmb t p. 17, based on Yaqut's Mu c j&m al-udaba':
someone admired the calligrapher "because you are singular in things which no-
body in Baghdad shares with you- among them is the beautiful handwriting, and
that I have never seen in my life a calligrapher except you, the distance between
w hose turban and his beard is two and a half cubits*” Ix>ng beards were appar-
ently not too common for calligraphers, as 77/, p. 81, tells about Ahmad al-Huma’ili
(d* 737/1337) in Mecca: “While he was writing the drafts of his correspondence,
he would constantly pluck out and corrode his long beard w'ith the hand of neg-
ligence.”

62, TH, p* 27, Ibn al-Bawwab's unique Koran manuscript in the Chester Beatty
Library has been studied by D. S* Rice.

63, Unver-Athari, Ibn al-Bawwdb, p. 7,

64, Ibid., p. 26, according to Ibn Khallikan, Wafayat al-a*ydn r vol. I, p, 246.

65* Sana'i, Hadtqal, p. 667.

66, Ibn ar-Rawandi, Rdfyat a$-ftidur, pp. 42-44,

67. Habib , p* 22, sums up the styles and their proper applications: rihdni for
Koran copies and prayers; Ikuluth for instruction and practicing calligraphy; riqd c
for correspondence; naskh for commentaries of the Koran and hadtih; UiuqF for
documents and royal orders; mufyaqqaq for poetry of sorts. This typology wm,
however, not strictly enforced* For the calligraphers in Yaqut’s line see Huart , pp.
86 ff*, who gives a slightly different tradition.

164

68. Ibn an-Nadim, Fihrist, trans, Dodge, chap. I, pp* 6-21. Thus, naskh in its
later technical sense as copyists’ script is missing, and muhaqqaq is mentioned only
among the derived scripts.

69. Ibn Wahb, Al-bufhan t p* 345*

70 . Fine examples from 1 1 khan and Mamluk times in Lings, The Quranic Art ,
chap. 5*

71. QA, p* 64- Huart, p. 95; cl. Zaynudd in, Mu$awwar al-khatt al~ c ambt, no, 265*

72. Rosenthal, Four Essays, p. 59.

73* Ibid., p. 28,

74. According to QA, p. 16, it has one and a half circular strokes and four and
a half straight strokes,

75. SH, pp* 647-767.

76. Murad Kamil “Die ftr»w»-Schrift in Agypten*” The scribes knew of course
various tricks to conceal or deform their letters so that a secret document could
not he read by the uninitiated; one method was to write with milk instead of ink;
when the recipient put hot ashes on the paper, the letters became visible; TH, p.
628*

77* See Arberry, The Koran Illuminated, no, 177, and Lings, The Quranic Art of
Calligraphy, p* 52.

78, Examples in TH, p. 129 (d, 788/1386), TH, p f 367 (d, 1035/1626), TH, p.
461 (d. 1 08 1/1 670—7 I ); Bada’uni, Muntakkah, vol. HI, p. 429 (transl.). III, p* 310
(text), speaks of the extraordinary achievements of Sharif Farisi, the son of Ak-
bar’s famous painter c Abdus-Samad, who made whole drawings and writings on
a grain of rice; see also Huart , p* 132, for Sayyid Qasim Ghubari in Istanbul. I
was given a grain of rice with the basmala and one with Sura 112 in Hydera-
bad/Deccan in 1979 and 1981; my full name in Roman letters was written on
another grain,

79* QA, p. 64; Huart, p, 252.

80. Mez , Renaissance de& Islams, p* 167.

81. A sumptuous copy of Muhammad-Quli Qutbshah's Divan is in the LSalar
Jung Museum, Hyderabad; all the magnificent copies of Ibrahim c Adilshah T s Ki-
tdb-i N auras seem to be dispersed.

82. QA, p, 24; cf. chapter 2, note 256, below*

83. Al-Washsha/ Kitah al-muwaskshd, pp* 157 ff.

84* Rosenthal, Four Essays, pp, 50-56.

85. Nath, Calligraphic Art , fig. VII: correction of inscriptional illusion,

86. Fraad-Etting hausen, “Sultanate Painting in Persian Style." p. 62* An un-
usually impressive example is a black stone slab from a Bengali mosque, built by
prince Danya b son of the great patron of arts, Husayn Shah, in 1500, now in the
Metropolitan Museum; for a related slab see Faris and Miles, “An Inscription of
Barbak Shah of Bengal’ 1 ; cf. A. Welch, Calligraphy , fig. 1,

87. Ibn Khaldun, Al-Muqaddma, trans. Rosenthal, vol, II, pp* 378, 386*

88* Mustaqimzade mentions the following masters in the Maghrib who wrote
in “classical’’ style: Ibn c Abdun (d. 300/912-13), TH, p* 295; Abu Dinar Yusuf

165

ibn Muhammad (Cordova, d, 334/945^16), TH f p. 591; Ahmad ibn Ifaban al-An-
dalusi, who studied with Ibn Muqla (d. 381/991-92), TH, p. 58; Halaf ibn Sulay-
man c Amrun as-Sanhaji (d. 398/1007—8 in Cordova)* TH, p. 193; Abu c Abdallah
Muhammad ibn Shaqq al-layl (d, 454/1062 in Toledo), who had studied with Ibn
al-Bawwab* TH, p. 373; Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Maghribi (d, 540/1 M5-46)*
TH, p, 379; Abu’l-Hasan Muhammad at-Tabib (d. 560/1 165), TH, p. 417; Abu
Bakr c Abdur-Rahman al-Miknasi (cb 592/1196 in Marrakesh), TH, p. 250; Hayyan
ibn c Abdallah al-Andalusi (d. 609/1212-13), 77/ t p. 189; Abu ja c far Ahmad ibn
Ibrahim (d, 707/1307-8 in Granada), learned from Yaqut, TH, p. 58; Abu Mu-
hammad c Abdallah ibn c A li ash-Sharishi (d. 717/1317 in Sevilla), TH, p. 276; Abu
Ja c far Hassan al-Habibi al-Andalusi (d. 742/1341-42), TH, p, 145; he further
mentions TH r pp. 69 and 81, other masters who wrote in the style of Ibn al-
Bawwab.

89. Khatibi and Sijelmasi, Splendour, pis, 24, 104, 107, 145, 156, 214,

90. Cf. Bivar* '"The Arabic Calligraphy of West Africa. '

91. QA, chap, 2, is devoted to the masters of taHiq.

92. Bayani, no. 63 T

93. Huart, pp, 257 ff,; “Les D£formateurs M ; QA, p. 100, is less aggressive; TH,
pp. 674-77, is also less critical than Huart; he mentions that “the unlucky callig-
rapher” who sometimes signed with “Giraffe” and sometimes with “Shah” became
somewhat mentally deranged.

94. Bay uni, p, 442.

95. Qati c i, Majma Q al-shu c am, p* 226 n.

96. Bayani, p, 82 L

97. MH f p. 44,

98. Bayani, no, 709; Huart , pp. 98, 235; QA, p. 167.

99. Aslah, ShiFard-yi Kashmir * S, 1, p. 397,

100. QA, p, 147; Huart, p. 220; the copy, dated 945/1538, is now in the Top-
kapu Seray* HS 25, see Lings, The Quranic Art of Calligraphy, pi. 91; Zaynuddin,
Mu^aumar al-khatt al- c araht, no. 225, According to QA, p. 145, Mautana Malik be-
gan a Koran in Nasta Hiq but did not finish it; in 1111/1699, Dervish c Ali wrote a
nastaHtq Koran; see Ghafur, Calligraphers of Thatta, p. 62, A copy of a Koran in
nastaHiq, dated 1060/1650, is in the National Museum Karachi. To our day, pray-
ers in Arabic are frequently written in nastaHiq, especially in Iran and Indo-Paki-
stan.

10 L QAj p, 77; Huart, p. 244.

102, Huart, p. 107 : he wrote even a Fall ha in skihasta.

103. Thus Qani c t Maqalat ash-$hu c ar&, p, 746.

104. Bedil, KutHydt, vol. I, p. 112.

105. A. Welch, Calligraphy, no, 75, color plate p. 14; it is written in Gwalior*
801/1398-99.

106, See Schimmel, Islamic Calligraphy, pi. XI. V* for a beautiful Surat an-Nas
(Sura 1 14) from the Deccan; also the same in A, Welch* Calligraphy, no, 86.

107, QA, p, 133; Bayani, no, 826,

166

108. Avd, “Turk sanatlnda aynall yazllar.”

109. Minorsky, in various places in QA, translates it with “written with the fin-
ger,” but it has to be “with the fingernail,” as Huart, p. 253, correctly says. I
received some specimens in 1981 from the Pakistani artist Agha Abdul -Was e Sa-
qib, Lahore.

110. For the development in Pakistan see Halem, ed., Calligraphy and Modern
Art, the proceedings of a seminar held in Karachi in 1974. Among the modern
artists, one can mention the names of issam as-Sa c id, and of Wasmaa Chorbachi,
whose calligraphies on silk and ceramics were recently wddely acclaimed in Saudi
Arabia; Massoudy, the author of Calligraphic Arabe vivante, has invented powerful
c alligrams. There are interesting experiments w T ith angular Kufi in both Morocco
and Pakistan, and the tradition of “speaking letters” was used in Iran by Adhar-
bod. The work of the Persian sculptor Tanavoli is likewise influenced by calli-
graphic concepts, as is modern art in Egy pt and the Sudan , in Lebanon and Syria.

1 1 L QA, p. 52.

CHAPTER TWO

L Ibn ar-Rawandi, Rdhat a$-$udur, p. 40. TH f p. 688, quotes the Persian verse:

The pen said: "1 am the emperor of the world —

In the end, I bring fortune to the writer!”

2. SH, p. 442, a calligraphy representing this saying.

3. Rosenthal, Four Essays, p, 61.

4. Bivar, “The Arabic Calligraphy of West Africa.”

5. Aksel, Turklerde dim resimler, p. 41.

6. SH 3 p. 143.

7. QA, p. 71, tells that the prince Ibrahim Mirza once, as a joke, signed an
inscription with huntufm (“It was me ) instead of katabaku by simply changing the
position of the dots.

8. Albumhtiitter, fndische, no. 58: c Abdallah taqlidd Mir- c Imdd, The Fogg Art Mu-
seum, Harvard University, has an album (1958-78) in which a page is signed:
Faqir All al-kdtib ndqihiku Muhammad Husayn at-Tabnzt. As much as the imitation
oi the masters was admired and encouraged, yet, slavish copying of their works
was not sufficient for a calligrapher: TH, p. 419, speaks somewhat regretfully of
§ekercizade (d, 1 166/1753), who wrote first a Koran “in imitation” and then kept
on imitating traditional models without adding a personal touch to his writing,

9. TH, p. 576; Habib , pp, 51-52.

10. Rosenthal, Four Essays, p. 28.

11. QA, p. 122.

12. Bayani, p. 253. File manuscript, which had been endowed to the shrine in
Ardabil by Shah c Abbas, was taken away by the Russians in 1828 and brought to
St. Petersburg; a facsimile was published by Galina Kostinova, Leningrad, 1957.

167

13* (M, p , 122; cf , ibid., p. 51 , Sultan-* All’s remark:

The aim of Murtaza c A Li in writing

was [to reproduce] not merely speech, letters, and dots,

hut fundamentals, purity and virtue;

for this reason he deigned to point to good writing.

14. Hafiz Osman gave lessons on Sunday for the poor, on Wednesday for the
wealthy, 777, p. 303, Habib, p« 123,

15. For a full translation see I bn Khaldun: The Muqaddima, Rosenthal, transL,
vol. II, pp. 388-89,

16. QA, p. 125.

17. Q\ ig, Hafiz Osman, p. 8. The noted Syrian historian Kamaladdin ibn al- c Adim
(d. 666/1267-68) wrote even in the camel litter while traveling, TH, p. 344.

18. TH, p. 283.

19. Habib, p, 197. Cf, the often repeated story of the king and the vizier’s clever
son, first told by Daulatshah, Tadhkirat, pp. 294-95: “Which child writes best?’ 1
“He who tnms his pen best,” etc.

20. Muhammad Hafiz Khan (d, 1194/1780), in Bayani, p. 710, no. 1012, It is
fitting that an Ottoman Turkish box with the implements of calligraphy bears the
inscription wa sabrun jamthin, “And good patience” (Sura 12/18); see Arseven, Les
Arts Decoratifs T tires, fig. 687 .

21. That becomes evident from a story found in almost all Turkish sources
(TH, p, 129; Habib, p. 103; Huart , p. 138): the calligrapher Sayyid Isma c il {d.
1090/1679} wrote a wonderful hand, and there would not have been any differ-
ence between his writing and that of Shaykh Hamdullah, had he not had such a
big belly that he could not place the paper correctly on his knees.

22. R ticker t- Per tsch, Grammatik, Poetik und Rhel&rik, p. 100.

23. Rosenthal, Four Essays, pp. 27-28, That is called ta c nq.

24. See for similar comparisons Sahl ibn Harun, in Hamza ablsfahani, At-tan-
bik, p. 92; Ibn al-Mu c tazz, Diwan, voL III, no. 169, p. 109; Nuwayri, quoted in
Khalidiyan, Kitdb aPtuhaf, p, 250.

25. QA , p. 25.

26. Bayani , p. 503. See Ibn Abi c Awn, Kitab at-taskbikdt, p. 305; he speaks of:

Ink like the covert of a raven's wing,
pens like sharpened lances,
paper like the glittering of clouds,
and words like the days of youth.

See also the description in TH, p, 602.

27. Ibn az-Zayyat (d. 233/847), in Rosenthal, Four Essays, p. 35,

28. Tauhidi, in Rosenthal, Four Essays, p, 42; cf. ibid., p, 25,

29. QA, p, 1 12,

30. QA, p. 49.

31. Khalidiyan, Kitdb al-tuhaf, p, 217, One could also send a slave of good
handwriting as a present, praising his skill with appropriate verses:

168

. - . I saw in his script a beauty by which he captures the intellect,

like delicately embroidered gowns which the singing girls trail behind them . . .

Similarly al-Washsha \ Kitdb al-rmwashskd, pp. 1 92-93 . For instance:

When he enters the diwtin [the office] the eyes become amazed
and the hearts of the spectators almost Hy away . . ,

32. Quoted in Khaltdiyan, Kitdh at-tuhaf p. 250. Many poems of this kind in
Hamza al-Isfahani, At-tanbih, pp. 105—10. Amusing is MuStaqimzade’s enumera-
tion ot the forty items that are needed for calligraphy; he dwells happily on the
fact that the names of all of them begin with an mim {the numerical value of which
is 40) ( TH , pp, 603-6). But this is not surprising at all, since all the words that he
enumerates are Arabic nomina imtrumenti in the Form mif c ul or maf c aL

33. Qadi ar-Rashid, Kittib adh-dkakka'ir, p. 254 1 para. 381; Khalidiyan, Kitdh at-
tuhaf ; pp. 38, 192, 208, 217, 24 1 T 250; inkstands, ibid., pp. 26, 42, 218, 245.

34. TH, p. 580.

35. TH, pp r 218-19; Habib, p. 11; for the calligrapher Sulayman Ahenlnqalam,
‘ Iron-Pen’' (d. 1 1 19/1707) see also Huart, p. J52. Writing with a quill is mentioned
in Habib, p, 110; the calligrapher who practiced this died in 1132/1720.

36. Some fragments of a Koran, of Central Asian or Indian origin, preserved
in the Fogg Art Museum and other collections, seem to be written with a brush,
and so are a number of early Indian manuscripts. For Islamic writing in China,
the use ut the brush is attested; but the Chinese Muslims did not follow the clas-
sical style as developed in the Middle East, The whole problem still has to be
studied carefully.

37. Hamza al-Isfahani, Atrlanbih, pp. 109-10.

38. Giese, K%0agim, p, 205,

39. See the descriptions by Sam ilia Ay verdi, Ibrahim Efendi’nin Konagi t quoted
in Schimmel, “Fine Istanbuler Schril'tsteilerin,’* p. 583; examples of ivory cutting
boards in Arseven, Les Arts Decoratifs Turcs, pi. 13, figs. 530 and 531.

40. Reckendorf, Muhammad und die Semen, p. 217, states that pious people used
water from the w T elI Zamzam in Mecca to prepare their ink. Habib, p. Ill, based
on TH, p. 202, tells about a calligrapher (d. 957/1550 at the age of more than a
hundred years) that he began late in life to take lessons from Shaykh Hamduliah
and, walking a long distance from Galatasaray to Istanbul proper, used to fasten
small ink bottles around his legs so that the ink might “mature, 1 ' i.e. t become well
mixed.

41. According to Mustaqimzade, TH, p. 569, the great jurist of early Islam,
Abu Hanifa Mif man (d. 150/767), received his surname “father of H." because
he always carried an inkwell with him so that he could write down important
things, “and in the Iraqian Language, hanifa means mthbara, that is, inkwell." We
need not believe this fanciful explanation.

42. Qadi ar-Rashid, Kitdb adh-dimkhair, p. 254, para, 38 L Cf. Giese, Kusdgim,
pp. 138, 271, 273,

43. Khalidiyan, Kitdb at-tuhaf, p, 218, quoting as-Suli, Adab al-kuttdb; very similar
the verse, ibid., p. 26.

169

44. Habib, p. 109, based on TH f p. 180. Another inscription quoted by Habib in
this connection:

The Friend said: “What is in the box with the three ink wells?”

1 said to him: “O my sweet (shirin ) prince Khusrau with sugar lips:

Your black tresses, your ruby lips, and your blue eyes!”

Cl. also ibid., p. 24 T Further a verse for a porcelain inkstand, p. 247. Persian
verses are found on medieval bronze cases as they adorn later boxes in lacquer-
work. Inkwells have been studied more than comparable objects by art historians;
see Wiet, “Objets en cuivre," nos, 3331 (with a repertoire des ecritoires), 4048, and
4461, pis. II I -V; Herzfeid, "A Bronze Pen-Case (607/1210)”; L. T, Ginzalian,
“The Bronze Qalamdan . . . from the Hermitage Collection"; Eva Baer, “An Is-
lamic Inkwell.” Good pictures in Safadi, Islamic Calligraphy t pis. 94-97; several
examples in Sarre, Erzeugnisse islamiscker Kumt, with inscriptions; A. Welch, Callig-
raphy, pi. 40, inkwell; pi. 48, pen-box; a fine lacquer qalamddn from the Victoria
and Albert Museum in Losty, Art of the Book, p. 17. Most museums possess nice
specimens of inkwells.

45. Giese, Kusdgim, p. 104, where also other writing utensils are mentioned.

46. Ibid., p. 175; cf. ibid., p. 138, about “writing utensils decorated with gold
and silver," For examples see KiihneJ, Islamische Schnftkunst , pp. 80-84. Several
times the sibbur occurs, that is, a slate of ebony used as a notebook; one wonders
how legible the letters were on the dark wood.

47. Ghalib, Kulliydt-i farsi> vol, IV> no, 292,

48. Aslah, ShiCam-yi Kashmir, S, I, p. 509.

49. Safadi, Das Biographische Lexikon, vol. XII, p. 127, no. 104. This calligra-
pher, al-Hasan ibn c Ali ibn al-Lu c aybiya al-Juwayni, was much in demand, and
“nobody after c Ali ibn Hilal [Ibn al-Bawwab] wrote better than he," He wrote 163
my^haf i,e. ( parts and full copies of the Koran. He died in 587/1191. SH, p. 405,
mentions an excellent nineteenth-century calligrapher and seal cutter who used
to write while drinking rakif

50. c Aufi, Lubdb al-albdb t vol. II, pp. 124, 246; also quoted in TH > p. 425,

5L Sourdel, “Lx Livre des Secretaires," p. 130/Arabic text 16. TH ? p, 602, quotes
an Arabic verse:

One quarter of writing is in the blackness of the ink,
one quarter in the good technique of the writer,
one quarter From the pen, correctly trimmed,
and the last quarter depends upon the paper.

52. See Mez, Renaissance des hlams , p. 440; Busse, Chalif und Grosskonig, p. 305:
the best quality is from Khorasan, then Samarqand* Damaskus, Tiberias, and Tra-
ins. According to Khalidiyan, Kitdb at-iuhaf p. 287, para. 59, the Tulunid ruler
Khumarawayh sent loads of papyrus, qardtis , from Egypt to the caliph in Bagh-
dad.

53, MH } p. 11, mentions Damascus paper as the worst quality; for the transla-
tion of the whole paragraph see Huart } p. IT

170

54. Sec L. Vidal and R. Bouvier, “Le papier de Khanbaligh.” N. Abbott, “An
Arabic-Persian Wooden Kur’anic Manuscript,” describes a Koran from eigh-
teenth-century Iran that consists of twenty-nine wooden folios,

55. Khaqani, Divan, qa$ida, p, 47.

56. Recipes for dheir by Hafiz Osman in Qlg, Hafiz Osman, p. IS. Sec also Schim-
mel, Tine Istanbuler Schriftstellerin,” p r 583,

57. Kalim, Divan, ed. Thackston, p. 15, no, 64.

58. TH, p, 641, mentions someone who, without using a ma&tar, did not deviate
from the straight line, and counts this as an outstanding achievement.

59. Habib , pp. 46, 145; the mirror models of Muhammad Rasim, TH, p. 467;
d, ibid., pp, 580-81: Yahya ibn Osman (d. 1169/1755-56) wrote jali script, and
his small house could not accommodate Ehc large models he drew for inscriptions;
when his patron became vizier, he provided him with a larger house to facilitate
his work.

60. Fani, Divan, p. 82,

61. TH, p. 84, mentions someone who received the degree of sawwodahu after
filling 1,000 sheets of paper with exercises. See also ibid,, pp, 230 t 242, and 560
(twice), Yazfr, Kalam Guzeli, p. 131 , explains karramhu as "writing a vocalized text”
(for most texts in Arabic letters do not bear the vowel marks); sawwodahu as “prac-
ticing,” mmkaqahu means 1 copying,” while raqamahu is often used as a sign of
modesty.

62. Rosenthal, tour Essays ; pp. 29-30.

63. Huart, pp. 109 ff. Perhaps he was regarded as the perfect embodiment of
the Prophet’s saying, "Teach your son writing, swimming, and arrow -shooting,”
which is quoted by Mustaqimzade among the forty hadlth pertaining to writing,
TH, p. 15.

64. Pope, Survey of Persian Art, p, 1726, n. I.

65. TH, p. 624, It should, however, not be used in calligraphy. Weisweiler,
Arabise he Meirchen, vol. H, p, 243, no. 98, has riddles about the sandbox “which
never smiles,”

66. Onver, Turklcrde half sanati 7 pp. I I, 12,

67. TH, p. 557,

68. SH, p, 581; TH, p. 572: ‘He succeeded in receiving kaJtabahuT The kata-
baku was granted, in this case, alter the disciple had worked for forty months with
Hafiz Osman; "forty” may he taken, as so often, as a round number meaning a
long time, even though the dates given for this calligrapher’* studies span some
three years and a few months, A medieval master, Qadi Hasan ibn al-Marzuban
as-Sirafi (d. 368/978-79) allegedly wrote ten pages every day until he became a
perfect calligrapher, TH, p. 158. For him see note 113.

69. SH, p. 619, for a calligrapher who died in 1906. But it was an old custom,
for QA, p, 74 1 tells that every child who took a lesson from the fifteenth-century
master Simi attained a high rank.

70. SH, p, 587.

71. The unpublished Harvard Ph.D. dissertation by Bassem Zaki contains im-

171

portant material about the signatures on Egyptian tombstones in the first three
centuries of the Hegira, particularly master Mubarak al-Makkt. See also Ghafur,
Calligraphers oj Thalia, p, 46. Examples of signatures in Safadi, Isiamic Calligraphy,
pp. 92-93,

72, TH, p, 239.

73, Bayani t no. 1313, p. 877;

Good and bad, whatever he writes,
he does it all in the name of this lowly one,

Habib, p. 226, does not quote Shihabfs impudent answer. See for the event also
Hu art, p, 229, and Ziauddin, Moslem Calligraphy, p. 44. Habib, pp, 108-9, tells
about one of Hamdullah’s favorite students, that the master sometimes signed his
pages because he liked him; but people claimed that the disciple put his writing
in such a way before the master that he unwittingly wrote his own kaiabahu on
them .

74, Bayani, p. 529. See also Habib, p. 185. This Mirza Abu Turab wrote a fine
elegy on Mir- c Imad’s assassination. One may mention in this connection Musta-
qimzade's aphorism no, 24 that to kiss a master’s hand is equal to a prostration,
TH, p. 626.

75* QA, p. 48; Gig, Hafiz Osman, p. 13; Habib , p. 150; TH, p. 484, tells the story
more extensively and in a slightly different way.

76. TH, p. 656, and Habib, p. 194: he permitted Mir Chalama to sign with his,
the master’s, name, but the disciple retorted: “Who are you that I should sign
with your name?” Thereupon he was cursed,

77. TH, p, 559, 602, and others.

78. TH, p. 580. Lebtebi are roasted chickpeas, slightly coated with sugar; they
are a favorite with Turkish children. Hence, “iron leblebi” is something that is
difficult to chew and to digest

79. 5aladi, Das biographhche Lexikon , vol. XII, no. 271, p. 297, about Abu c Ali
al- Hasan ibn Wahb at-Harithi, born 186/802. The family was originally Christian,
lbn Wahb al-Katib, who “turned to the pr act icing-house of Paradise” in 427/1036,
composed an interesting book, Al-bufMn fi wujuh al-huydn, in which he often al-
ludes to writing and the terminology of scribes.

80. Sourdel, "Livre des Secretaires,” p. 119. He quotes Baladhuri (Futuh al-
huidan, ed. de Goeje, p. 472) for women in the time of the Prophet who could
write, including one of Muhammad’s wives. Suli, Adah al-kuttdb , pp, 50, 97, stales
that some authorities do not approve of women as scribes. TH, p. 20, quotes as
the last of the forty traditions connected with writing: “Do not allow them to come
down to the [public] sitting rooms, and do not teach them writing!” He also men-
tions with apparent approval an alleged saying by Socrates, “not to add evil to
evil” by teaching women how to write, TH, p. 627. 1 have met elderly Turkish
ladies who knew how to read (so that they could read the Koran) but were not
allowed to learn writing, “lest we write love letters,” as one of them told me in
1955 in Kill is.

81* Hamza al-Isfahani, At-tanMk, p. 98: “As if her writing were the shape of
her figure, and her ink the blackness of her hair, and as if her paper were the
skin of her face* and as if her pen were one of her fingers* and as if her style
were the magic of her eyeball* and as if her knife were the flirtation of her glance,
and as if her cutting board were the heart of her lover,” In eighteenth-century
Turkey, poets delighted in describing “a darling scribe with eyebrows like a reed-
pen and ink [black] hair” with whom they would like to spend some time in the
charming environments of Kaghidhane (lit., “paper house”) on the Bosporus be-
cause the picture of union (wasli; also, “album page”) with him or her cannot be
wiped out from the page of thoughts,

82. Bayattiy no. 380* p. 267. Interestingly* this lady* who studied wkh Dost-
Muhammad* signed with the masculine form katabahu instead of the grammati-
cally correct katabathu. That shows that the formula had become stereotyped by
that trine,

83. Ibid,* no, 349. Zebunnisa wrote shikasta, nashh, and nastaHlq, Her court cal-
ligrapher, Muhammad Sa c id Ashraf, who prepared an anthology from Rumfs
Mathnawi for her, is praised in a fine quatrain with double rhyme that also high-
lights his talent as a painter:

As much as you have no [jeer in calligraphy —

in the style of painting you resemble Mani {hi- Mam mdnt).

Bay am, p* 744.

84. A cherry* The Koran Illuminated, no, 236, The piece is usually thought to be
from Lucknow* eighteenth century* which may be correct; but its possible connec-
tion with the accomplished queen of Bijapur is too tempting to go unmentioned,

85. 77/, p. 190; Habib, p. 110; and SJ7* p. 174.

86. SH * pp. 802-3.

87. SH, p, 773. A certain Esma Ibret Hanlm completed a hilya at the age of
fifteen in 1209/1794, SH, p. 85.

88. QA, p. 62.

89. TH, p. 265:

^Abdul-Karim has delightful lines

which he writes with skill and elegance;

he decorates bis paper with scripts

as the clouds decorate the valley slopes with greenery,

It is interesting that this very Sufi wrote also mystical works on the asrar al-huruf
(mysteries of the letters).

90. THy p. 186.

91. It is natural that many Mevlevis are mentioned in the section on nasta c Bq
in THy for their favorite occupation was to copy R unit’s Mathnawi with its ca,
26,000 verses* which must have taken a skilled* fast-writing calligrapher about two
years, Ibrahim Cevri (d, 1065/1655) copied this work eighteen times, eighteen
being the sacred number of the Mevlevis {THy p. 639), One of Maulana Rumi's

173

khalifas, Mizamuddin Dede, learned calligraphy from Yaqut himself, TH, p. 548,
Among the great number of Mevlevis mentioned by Habib and SH, two are out-
standing; Sari Abdullah (d. 1070/1659^60), the commentator of the Maiknam
and translator of the Gulskan-i rdz into Turkish, was as noted as a fine calligrapher
(TH t p. 280), as was Nahifi (d. 1 152/1739), to whom Turkey owes the best metrical
translation of the Mathnawf. See also Huart, pp. 104, 271 “72.

92, Huart , pp. 20, 313. Mustaqimzade himself is a tine example of a Naqsh-
band) who studied calligraphy and applied his vast knowledge of Islamic subjects
to the history of calligraphy, Huart, pp. 282-91, gives a good survey of calligra-
phers in various Sufi orders, It should he added that the historian Tasbkopriizade
{d. 968/1560-61) is mentioned in TH, p, 89, as a calligrapher and member of the
Khalvatiyya order. One may also mention that Riza c Ali Shah, the author of the
book Miftah al-khutut, which was written ca. 1800 for Nawwab c Azim [ah Bahadur
of Carnatic, was a member of the Qadiriyya order, and that all artists mentioned
in his book are Qadiris, Huart, p. 5. Riza c A 1 i Shah's book is one of his sources,

93. Mehmed Zaynuddin, a disciple of Hamdullah, was the son of Hamdi, the
author of the fine Turkish epos Yusuf Zulaykha, and grandson of Mehmet the
Conqueror's spiritual adviser, Aq Shamsuddin. It is he who wrote the Light-verse
(Sura 24/35) around the dome of the Aya Sofya, TH, p. 442; Huart , p. 119.

94. SH, pp. 68 ff. Most of his Koran s were written for high-ranking personal-
ities, such as King Amanullah of Afghanistan, and the mother of the Khediv
c Abbas Hilmi. His calligraphy of Busin’s Burda was printed in Egypt in 1352/1933,
c Aziz Efendi also wrote three large fiilyas; a photograph of one of them in SH, p.
69*

95. This seems to be the case particularly in the Persianate tradition, where
many poets are mentioned as calligraphers; for the Arabic world, the information
is not so easily available.

96, The calligrapher Muhammad ibn Musa ibn al-Basis wrote a commentary
on Ibn al-Bawwab’s Ra’iyya, TH, p. 462,

97, Sultan- c AU f s poem in QA, pp, 122 ff. According to Qalqashandi, §ubh ai-
a^shdj voL HI, p. 14, Zaynuddin Sha c ban ah A than wrote an atfiyyajt san'atiTkliaft.

98. Mir- c Ali T s poems are mentioned in QA, p. 125; Bayani p. 503, and have
often been repeated. He wrote a considerable number of nice verses on album
pages.

99, Majnun Haravi was a disciple of Tabbakh; his Risdtas have been printed in
Kabul. A prayer of his, playing with allusions to writing, is quoted by Habib , p.
219:

O God, have mercy upon the soul of Majnun;
draw the pen over Maj nun’s script of rebellion E
Abolish iruiskh) the dust (ghubar) of sin and rebellion
from tile registration (tauqf) of my paper pieces (riqd c ).

Habib, p, 189, also quotes from a rhymed treatise on calligraphy by Baba Shah of
Isfahan, allegedly a disciple of Mir- c Ali and teacher of Mir- I mad (d. 1012/1603).

174

But since this calligrapher was still very young in 995/1587, and ‘ would have
become equal to Mir- c Ali and Sultan-' : Ali if he had lived longer,” he cannot be a
direct disciple of Mir- c Ali, who died in 1556* even though he had begun writing
at the age of eight — unless the age of thirty-nine is considered “very young” for
a calligrapher, See also Huart, p. 238,

100. Bayaniy p, 637, no, 866.

101. TH, p. 101.

102. It is signed by Muhammad Salik, 1082/1672,

103. MH, p. 27.

104. Gies Kusagim, p. 23 * in K us h aji rn s D rwdn, no. 336.

105. TH, p. 1 13, and Habib, p, 83. He died in 933/1526-27 and was the teacher
of Ahmad Qarahisari.

106. Bayaniy no. 709, p 524. There, Mir- c Imad*s full biography is given.

107. Habib , p, 157, One may think here also of a verse by a haughty Turkish
calligrapher in the eighteenth century who claimed:

A scribe in the midst of illiterate people

is like a copy of the Koran in the house of a dhimmi [i.e., a Christian, Jew* or Sabianf

Mustaqimzade, TH, p, 514, cannot find enough deprecative expressions for this
arrogant person.

108. Bayani , no, 514,

109. Information kindly supplied by Professor Carter Findley, who will publish
an article on this rare document.

110. SH , p. 169. He went to Egypt toward the end of his life and died there in
1941. But a very similar formula is used in TH, p. 356, for a calligrapher who
died in 970/1562-63. Nowadays in Pakistan, many lower-class calligraphers turn
to the decoration of trucks* as George Rich has shown (“Bedford Painting in Pak-
istan”), They also decorate the motor rikshas with nicely calligraphed Urdu verses,
usually quotations from Iqbal's poetry.

111. Among the numerous high-ranking figures we single out the noted poet
Shaykh ul-Ulam Yabya (d. 1053/1643) and his father, who held the same office.
QadFaskers of the nineteenth century are mentioned in SH, pp, 527, 603, 611,
614, 639, and often; particularly famous is Mustafa c Izzet Efendi Yesarizade (d,
1265/1849), son of the famous left-handed calligrapher Es c ad Yesari (his portrait
in SH, p. 568), Members of the Kbpriilu family were as much known for their
good hands as were the grand viziers Shehla Ahmed Pasha (d, 1167/1753-54);
TH, p, 63; Huart, p. 167; and Raghib Pasha (d. 1 176/1762-63), TH, pp, 449—50.

112. Raqim Efendi produced some of the finest thuluth jali plates; see Oliver,
Tiirkiyazy ge$itleri, p. 16. After attaining the rank of Qadi c asker of Istanbul he be-
came Qadi c asker of Anadolu in 1822 (SH, pp. 272 ff .). His elder brother Hafiz
Isma c il Zuhdii Efendi was an established teacher of calligraphy in the imperial
household,

113* TH f p* 414. The poor man lived in the G ho ban (shepherd) Chavush
Medrese in Istanbul; hence the animal imagery. Cf also TH, p t 367, about a

175

* *»

calligrapher (d. 870/1465-66) who wrote for money, and ibid., p. 440, about one
Muhammad Shamsuddin in Egypt, who allegedly charged one dirham for writing
one line of the Alfiyya . — but this remark can be dismissed, since the Alfiyya was
composed long after his death. See also Mez, Renaissance des hlams T p* 21 2, and
Huart t p. 77, about Qadi Hasan ibn c Abdallah as-Sirafi (d. 978), who lived from
selling his famous calligraphic^ and copies because he did not accept money from
the government Mustaqimzade holds that “to teach writing for a honorarium is
permissible" (TH, p, 625), and he knows how miserable the life of many of these
scri!>es was: the expression khubz al-kuttdb (bread of the scribes) is used for hodge-
podge, “since the food of a teacher of writing comes from different houses it is
all different," TH, p. 623.

114. A charming description by Sultan- c Ali of a garden party in which all court
musicians and singers took part, in Bayani, p. 247.

115. QA, p. 3 L

116. MH, p, 34, and Bayani, p. 245.

117. For titles in India see Huart, pp. 256-57

118. Mir- e Ati’s biography in Bay am, no. 703. The number of his works, or works
signed with his name, is by far too great to be listed here; every museum has at
least one or two of his calligraphic pages. Since he used various styles of signing
his cailigraphies, al-fcufr Mvr- c Ali being apparently the most frequently occurring
formula, the identification is not easy. A list of his disciples is given in Bay am, p.
505.

1 19. TH, p. 585, calls the Uzbek ruler Shaybak, with a change of dots, Yashbek,
and claims that “he wrote a Yaqutian script and painted Mani-like pictures," a
remark that certainly developed out of the story of his attempt to correct the
works of Sultan- 0 Ali and Bihzad after his conquest of Herat in order to impress
his Uzbek officers. For a good description of this scene see Qathi, Majma* at-
shu c ard , pp. 55-56.

120. Bayani , no, 84, p* 47; he died in 986/1578 in Mashhad.

12 L Qati c i, Majma c al-shu c am, p. 226, n.

122. Bay am, no. 379.

123. Ibid., no. Ill; QA t pp. 6-9. A/hari weis first employed by Baysunghur,
then by Abu Sa c id. Among his works are a copy of the Haf t Paykar in the Metro-
politan M Liseu m , a Khusrau u Skirin in the John Ry lands Library „ and NizamVsKhamsa
in the Punjab University Library. He traveled much and died, as it is said, in
880/1475 in Jerusalem,

124, QA, p. 168.

125, Bay am, no. 508.

126, TH f p. 288.

127. Habib , p, 66, His qayida is in form of a riddle about the pen in which the
contrasting qualities of the pen are elegantly alluded to:

What is that bird that never rests from shrieking,

whose body is decorated with gold while its head is besmeared with pitch?

176

128. SH, p. 329.

129. SH f pp. 54-57. He states at the end that Filibeli Bakkal was a proof for
the saying that “one of God's mysteries lies in the calligraphers’ hand,” for how
else could one explain that he wrote such a fine, strong hand while his hands
were torn and worn out from his daily chore as a greengrocer? Mustaqimzade
gives numerous examples of calligraphers from a working-class background. Most
of them were later employed in offices and had no independent artistic career.
One calligrapher’s father w as a lehlebict, vendor of roasted chickpeas (TH, p. 259),
another a ropemaker (TH, p. 263); we find a Sepetimde (son of a basket maker)
and a Berbermde (barber's son) {TH, p. 280). A father who served in the imperial
kitchen (TH, p, 245) could give his son a better entree in the circles of good
calligraphers. A detailed study of the data provided by TH, Habib, MH, and SH
would yield interesting results for the sociology of Turkish calligraphers.

130. Habib , p. 242; TH t p. 51: Ibrahim bl-iaban (d. 1 154/1741).

131. TH, p. 708; Habib , p. 210. Qasim Shadhishab insulted him by claiming
that:

for this, reason his writing lias no foundation
because his ear has never heard anyone's instruction,

132. Huart r p. 265; TH, p. 68 L

133. SH, pp, 531 ff.; TH, p. 717, has only a brief note about him.

134. SH, p. 582; Huart, p. 156, based on TH, p. 292; and Habib 3 p. 121, tells
about the imperial scribe c Abdallah Vafa’i (d, 1141/1728) that he began to write
with his foot and his left hand and added unusual flourishes to his letters, behav-
ing contrary to the customs of calligraphers so that he finally went (as Musta-
qimzade says, “for a change of air") to Bursa w here he died in exile. Other sources,
such as QA , p. 52, speak with admiration of someone who could keep the pen in
his foot or his mouth.

135. Mustaqimzade, always fond of strange stories, not only mentions that the
famous traditionist Bukhari wrote “a good hand, sometimes with the right and
sometimes with the left hand’' (TH, p. 393), but also praises his own contempo-
rary, c Abdu!-Mu c ti Alt! Parmaq who, having six fingers on the right hand, “wrote
the six styles with six fingers perfectly" (TH, p. 294). Another calligrapher, after
losing his right hand on the battlefield, continued to write with his left hand and
was admired by the sultan; he died in 1172/1758-59, TH, p. 170.

136. For Ahmad ibn Yusuf az-Zu c ayfari see TH, p. 93. A friend consoled him
with the verse:

Verily your right hand has lost its [capacity of writing] calligraphy,
but don’t worry and don’t think of difficulties,

rather l:>e happy with the good tidings of constant happiness and joy,
for God Almighty has facilitated (yassara) for you the left hand (yusm)

TH, pp. 250-51, mentions a Syrian calligrapher of the seventeenth century “whose
both hands were right hands w hen he wrote/’ The qM t of Sevilla, a good callig-

177

rapher (d. 612/1215), was also left-handed, TH , p. 273. That even a woman with-
out hands, who appeared in Cairo in 576/1 180-81, was a perfect calligrapher is
duly mentioned by Mustaqimzade, TH, p. 144.

137. Ibrahim Tatiana, Takmila , pp. 548—50. He died ca. 1226/1811; the Koran
is now in the Talpur Library in Hyderahad/Sind.

138. Wafli h a cardboard made up from layers of’ paper that are glued together
in a special process; wa$$dli is the preparation of these paper s and not, as Minor-
sky seems to think, “repair*”

139. MH, p. 76.

140. MH, pp. 45-46.

14 L Bayani, no. 1466, p, 947, mentions “Ottoman Turkish verses in medium
size nastaHfq of white paper pasted on green” in the Istanbul University Library.
The Metropolitan Museum has a volume of line cutout poems, mainly by Shahi,
and some other excellent cutout pages. For the whole art see Turk oymadlarh

142. Huart, p. 325, after Habib, p. 26L

143. Dost- Muhammad is mentioned among the specialists in cutting out verses,
and the author of the Mafma c ai-$ku c ard-yi J ahdngirskd h i> Qati c i, received his sur-
name from this art, which he learned in Herat,

144. Ray am, pp. 494— 95, in the Muraqqa c (album) of Shah Tahmasp, written in
943/1536-37 in Bukhara. Another copy is in Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, and
yet another piece cut out by c Ali Sangi is in the Metropolitan Museum (67,266.76)

145. See also MH t p, 63*

146. Safadi, Das biographhche Lexikon, vol. XII, pp. 431 ff., no. 387. Tughra’i
was killed in 513/1119 or 514/1120. For him see GAL, I, 247-48; $, I, 439-40.

147. AbuTFazI, A ’m-i Akbarf, transl. I, p. 54.

148. Huart, p. 107; QA, p. 132. MH, p. 70, quotes a verse in which kha#-i chap
is equivalent to “illegible.” Ibid., p. 60, c Abdallah Mar vaiid (d. 921/1516) is called
a master of khatta chap. AH the masters of this style mentioned in the sources were
munshfs, members of the royal bureaus,

149. Qani c . Maqalat ash-shu c ara t p. 776; a man in Sind,

150. See SH, pp. 293-97 for Rasim Efendi (d, 1885), the ser-sikke-ken mu c avini.

151. SH, p, 435,

152. Vahdeti, who had composed the tughrd for Sultan c AbduL c Aziz. in 1862
(for which achievement he received 500 Turkish pounds), later worked on bank
notes, stamps, etc:.; see SH 7 pp. 435 ff. CL also Bayani, no. 248, about Hasan and
Husayn-i Hakkak and their activities. The Egyptian bank notes were designed by
Sultan c Abdul -Majid's scribe Zuhdu Efendi (d, 1879); sec SH, p. 1, “but he wrote
only one Koran,”

153. Rice, I bn al-Bavmab , pp, 7-8, after Yaqut, MtTjam al-udaba, vol. XV, p.
122 *

154. QaiFi, MajmcT al-shu c ara y p. 103 Habib f p- 233, tells a similar anecdote
about A nisi and c Ahdul- Karim, in which the good, acceptable page was not dam-
aged by the water. A nice story about the imitation of a calligraphic page of Hafiz
Osman in 1150/1737, in which the paper was made to look old, is told by the

178

eyewitness, Mustaqimzade, in TH, p. 203; relating another case of forgery, he tells
how to use ironing and coloring with coffeeground to give the paper an antique
look, TM, p. 528.

155. Mez, Renaissance des I slams T p. 176.

1 56. Bayrmi , no. 1085, pp. 7491, However, even this successful master com-
plained of loneliness when traveling abroad, using, of course, the imagery of writ-
ing:

Since nobody has sent me a letter,

J have a broken back and am pressed together like a book!

Habib , p, 68.

157. QA t p. 65; Habib, p. 227.

158. Qari c i, Mqjma c al-sku c ard, p. 83. See also Soucek, “The Arts of Calligra-
phy,” p. 28, n. /4: the norma! i b ate was 80 verses matknavi and 50 verses of gkazal
a day; Sultan- c AIi of Mashhad wrote usually 50 verses a day, ibid,, p. 30, n. 76,
Thai amounts to some 18,000 verses a year, and since he wrote for about sixty
years, the enormous number of pieces by him that have survived can be easily
explained. Apparently, some calligraphers liked to brag about their writing, for
Mustaqimzade, in bis aphorisms on writing (TH f p. 627), says that one should not
tell a he when mentioning how many pages one has written on a certain day, '"and
if one has filled a hundred practice sheets one may say "1 wrote twenty or thirty,'
but not vice versa/'

159. QA t p. 49*

160. A facsimile edition of this Koran, preserved in the Chester Beatty Library,
is in preparation.

161. Huart, p. 92, based on Habib, p, 57.

162. Safadi, Das biograpkischc Lexikon, vol. XI 1, p. 440, no. 388; Ibn al-Khazin
(d, 502/1108-9) wrote "fifty mushuf\ both quarters and full Korans"; he further
copied the voluminous Kitdb al-aghdni three times and, as Habib, p. 48, states, was
particularly fond of writing the Maq&mat al- Hariri. Copies of the Koran, either
bound by jvx so that the whole Koran consists of thirty volumes, or by groups of
four to five juz\ were probably common when large letters were used. In such
cases, the beginning and the end of each fascicule were lavishly decorated.

163. Huart , p. 131; see also ibid,, p. 125, and TH, p* 324, who mentions an
extremely beautiful copy in his hand of lEm al-Farid's Diwan. A copy of a Koran
written by c Ali al-Qari in 1000/1591 -92 is reproduced in Moritz, Arabic Palaeog-
raphy, ph 94, For the literary achievements of this author see GAL, II, 394-98; S,
II, 539^3.

164. Huart, p. 139*

165. Ihidry p. 160, based on TH, p. 388, and Habib, p. 133. He was a Naqsh-
bandi. 1 he remark in TH, p. 72, that Ahmad ibn c Abdul-Wahhab an-Nuwayri (d,
733/1332-33) wrote three juz’ of the Koran every day— which amounts to the
completion of a whole Koran in ten days- — sounds exaggerated, and even more
the story that Abu r Abdur-Razzaq ibn al-Fuwati as-Sabuni (d. 728/1328 at the age

179

of eighty) wrote four juz every day (77/, p, 257). To write minute Korans, with
on e jut' on eacli page, was a special art; see TH, p. 176, for a fifteenth-century
calligrapher from Transoxania.

166. SH, p. 428.

167. Thus the famous Hanbalite scholar c Abdur- Rahman Abul-Faraj ibn al-
Jauzi (d. 597/1200), who wrote in the style of Ibn al-Bawwab (Huart, p. 83 , based
on Habib, p, 49, and TH, pp. 247-48), The latter claims that it was the leftovers
of the pens with which he bad written hadith, and "after the water was heated
there were still wood chops left.”

168. SH, p. 454.

169. One Turkish calligrapher, who died in 1760, copied it 25 times. CL also
SH, pp. 30,218.

170. Rasim, who was regarded as the final master in the school of Hafiz Osman
wrote Surat al-an c dm 1,000 times, as well as sixty Korans; he also copied Suyutfs
Unmudhaj ai-lafnb for the sake of blessing, TH, pp. 465-70, Habib, p. 146.

171. Unver, Htlya-i madet , Hattat Mehmet §evki, written in 1881, The Metropol-
itan Museum owns a k ilya by “Mustafa called al- , . . [doubtlessly Raqim] written
for the sake oi blessing for his son and disciple Ir/ziT

172. Habib, p. 90; tf. ibid,, pp, 93, 97. Mehmet ibn Ahmad Nargisizade (d,
1044/1634-35), a fertile author who could even write very fast while walking,
wrote a copy of Baydawfs commentary on the Koran in forty days; ibid., p. 241,
and TH, pp. 383-84 and 702.

173. See Atil, Art of the Mamluks, no. 9: a Bur da for Sultan Qaytbay (Beilin Ms,
or. fol, 1623); Chester Beatty Arabic MS 4168; Chester Beatty has also a Burda
written for Yashbek ad-Dawadar, one of the most influential officers in the last
days of the Mamluk Empire; also, a Burda with a Persian paraphrase— doubtlessly
Jami’s famous rendering — written by Sultan- c Ali Mashhadi in 881/1477 (no, ln4
Persian). Other fine copies of the Burda are in Cairo, Istanbul, London, and Vi-
enna. A Turkish calligrapher in the late eighteenth century wrote a Burda for
fifty pieces of gold, TH, p. 116. Interestingly, the author of the Burda , the Sha-
dhili Sufi al-Busiri (d. 698/1298), was a noted calligrapher (TH, pp. 411-12); TH,
pp. 239, 323, and 459 mentions the names of some of his disciples, among them
one Muhammad Fakhruddin al-Halabi in Divrigi (d. 713/1313). a place in eastern
Anatolia that was then under Mamluk rule.

174. See the useful list at the end of Bayani, voL III,

175. Bayani , no. 124.

176. Ibid., no. 84, p, 48, a copy by Sayyid Ahmad Mash had i in Tehran, Impe-
rial Library. Daulatshah, Tadhkimt, pp, 480-92, praises Shahi as a good painter.
An incomplete cutout Divan ot Shahi is in the Metropolitan Museum, and frag-
ments of a fine manuscript of fib Divan are pasted around Moghul album pages.
Exquisite copies of his Divan are found in all major libraries and museums; they
date from the mid-fifteenth century to the early seventeenth century. See GA, p.
68-69. For his poetical achievements see Rypka, History of Iranian Literature f p.
284.

180

*■

177. Habib, p. 243. mentions the Kulliydt-i S&’ih, written by M eh met Eflatun (d.
1 168/1754-55), "which deserves to be visited,” i.e., is worth seeing. Sec also TH,
p. 732, and another Divan of Sa’ib, ibid., p* 716.

178* Bayani t no, 104.

179. Ibid,, p. 25 3, The manuscript was in the Imperial Library in Tehran. There
are a considerable number of manuscripts by 5ultan- c Ali written after this Divan,
ail of which show that his artistic strength did not weaken for a long time; we
mention the Khamsa by Mir- c Ali Shir Naval, written in 897/1492 (during the au-
thor’s lifetime}, which came via Bukhara to Jahangir's library, and is now in the
Royal Library in Windsor Castle (see Losty* Art of the Book, no. 177). Some years
later, Sultan- 1 Ali copied the versification by Jami of the Forty hadith, 903/1498
(now in Lite Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad). The copy of Sultan Husayn
Bayqara’s Turki divan , dated 906/1501, which is now in the Metropolitan Mu-
seum, is still admirably beautiful; he had already copied the same royal book once
in 897/1492 (now in the Topkapu Saray, Hazine HE I6S9; see Togan, “Minia-
tures,” p* 37).

180. Huurt, pp. 109 if,

18 L Bay am, p, 870. The calligrapher died in 1270/1853.

182. TH, p. 105. Huart t p. 157: a calligrapher devoted himself to writing Jazu-
li’s Data'll al-Khayrat until he died because the Prophet had inspired him in a
dream to do so,

183. QA, p, 30,

184. SH t p. 495, mentions as an exception that a master (d, 1242/1826) wrote
even small characters without eyeglasses,

185. Bayani , no. 410. I’ogan, “Miniatures ” p, 7, mentions Jam vs use of the
term chaskm-i firang (European eyes) for spectacles, hut l have not found the ref-
erence,

186. Unver, Turk yazi $e$itferi t p. 28; it is Istanbul, TopkapT, Hazine RN 2158,
verso 18.

187. TH, p, 177; the image occurs several times in Kalim’s Divan.

188. TH, pp. 504-5, hut he confuses this Sultan Mahmud with Mahmud of
Ghazna, telling about his chaste love for his Turkish slave Ayaz!

189. TH, p. 123, Abu 1 b Fid a was allegedly “the unique pearl of his time in the
Yaqutian style;” TH, p. 123.

190* An autograph of Sultan Hasan, dated 755/1354 (reproduced in Moritz,
Arabic Palaeography, p, 150 A), shows indeed little elegance. But see for the train-
ing of young Mamluks in writing, Flemming, “Literary Activities in Mamluk Halls
and Barracks.” Salahuddin al-Munajjid has edited the work of Hasan at-Tibi T who
composed an introduction to the styles of Ibn af-Bawwab for the last Mamin k
sultan, Qansauh al-Ghuri; and another manuscript about various styles of writing,
copied by a Mamluk, Kasbay min Tanam, for the same ruler, is reproduced in
Fehervari-Safadi, 1400 years of Islamic Art, no. 14. See also the numerous Bur das
copied in Mamluk times; cf. note 173, above.

191. Habib, p. 36; cf* also TH, p* 56L

181

192. TH, p. 519.

193. TH, pp. 357 =58; a century later the Bu way hid jalaluddaula ibn
Baha’uddaula (d. 452/1060) is mentioned as a good calligrapher, ibid., p. 358.

194. TH, p. 364.

195. A friend of the just-mentioned Sahib Ibn c Abbad took up this saying in
his Arabic verse:

He sows in the soil of paper pearls with his script,
and spreads over them the wings of peacocks.

TH, p. 309; see also Daulatshab, Tadhkirat, p. 515, for c Abdallah MarvarkL

196. TH, pp, 69, 356-57.

197. TH, p, 274,

198. TH, p. 520, Mas c ud; ibid., p. 41, Ibrahim.

199. Ibn ar-Rawimdi, Rabat as-suditr, p. 40. This author himself claims to have
known "seventy styles of writing' 1 and offers a good introduction into calligraphy
before Yaqut at the end of his book.

200. TH, p, 225, The flkhan ruler Abu $a c id ibn Khudabanda was, if we be-
lieve TH, p, 413, a disciple of Yaqufs disciple as-Sayrafi.

201. Huart, p, 96; TH, p. 62,

202. Bayani, p. 248. He wrote a fine shikasta La Itq.

203. Habib, p. 58. For Sharafuddin Yazdi (d, 858/1454), the author of the Za-
farndma, see also Rypka, History of Iranian Literature , pp, 434, 444,

204. Daulatshah, Tadhkirat, p, 380; QA , p, 28.

205. Lings, The Quranic Art of Calligraphy, pis. 82—83.

206. His handwriting in this particular Koran seems almost to foreshadow the
style that became so typical of Ottoman naskh calligraphy; it is very elegant and well
proportioned,

207. Habib , p. 182; their names are listed in Bayani, p. 117.

2 08 . L)( jst ■ -M u ha mm ad , // dddit-i hunarvardn , p . 13.

209. Lings, The Quranic. Art of Calligraphy, pi, 51; A, Welch, Calligraphy f no. 49.

210. Huart , p. 99, Rypka, History of Iranian Literature , pp. 284-85. Fattahi’s Sha-
bistan-i khaydl was imitated in Turkish by another calligrapher, Qadi Khwaja c Ab-
dur -Rahman Ghubari in Istanbul (d. 974/1566-67), a master of dust script, TH,
pp, 246^7,

21 1 + TH, p. 659; Huart , p, 217.

212. His poems were often calligraphcd, and one of his official letters, order-
ing the assembling of a calligraphic album, is preserved in Roemer, Staatsschrti-
ben der Timuridenzeit, no. 74,

213. Bayani, no. 164; Schimntel, “Poetry and Calligraphy,” p, 85, Prince Sam
Mirza, an accomplished author, calligrapher, poet, and sometime governor of
Herat, was taught calligraphy by Muhammad Mu' min ibn c Abdallah Marvarid,
Habib, p. 77.

214. CL Dickson- Welch, The Houghton Shakname, vol. I, p. 240, for the refuta-
tion of the story of Chaldiran,

182

215, Bayani, no. 463 *

216, Dickson -Welch, The Houghton Shakname, gives the best introduction into
the artistic and intellectual climate of the early Safavid time* At Tahmasp's court,
Amir Ghayb Bek collected a fine album with a foreword by Sayyid Ahmad of
Mashhad in 973/1565-66; it Ls now in Istanbul, Topkapl, Hazine 2161. See Bay-
ani, pp. 50-54, for the text of the Introduction.

217, Bayani, no. 317, p, 201, Dost- Mu ham mad’s introduction was edited by Dr.
Abdallah Chaghatay. See also Dickson- Welch, The Houghton Skahnam e, pp. 1 lb-
28.

218. Bayani, p + 201.

219. QA, p, 155.

220. Bayani, no. 653.

221. TH, pp. 695-97.

222. Bayani , no. 471.

223. A. Welch , Calligraphy t no, 67.

224. QA, p. 165, about Mir Mu'-izzuddin Muhammad, A specimen by him dated
978/1570-71, in Albumbldtter, no. 12* Sec also note 237, below.

225. QA, pp. 128-29,

226. Bada’uni, Muntakhab, vol. Ill, p. 378 (transl.), 111, p, 273 (text); see also
Qati c i ? Majma 1 ' al-sku c ara, pp. 290-91.

227. Habib, p. 202. Cf. Huart , p. 319, Another master, who excelled as philos-
opher and calligrapher, was Mir Raqir DhuTkamalayn, whose albums were highly
prized, and who died in India at the age of eighty-seven (Huart, pp. 226-27), The
sources claim that he was Mir- c Ali Haravi’s father,

228. Abul-FazI, A'in-i Akhari, transl. f 1, 109* Conflicting statements about his
lifespan make a proper assessment difficult, QA studied with him from 1557 on,
when the master was already seventy (QA, pp 135-39). Some sources claim that
he died in 972/1564; others, ca, 990/1582 at the age of eighty-eight* TH, p 736,
gives the date of 952/1545, which is certainly t<x> early, Shah- Mahmud may have
joined Akbar’s court just for a brief span of time, as Dost-Muhammad did. Calli-
graphy by Shah-Mahmud in Albumblatter, nos. 6 and 8; Rypka, History of Iranian
Literature, fig, 20; A til, Brush oj the Masters, no. 15; Safadi* Islamic Calligraphy , pp,
28, 87, no, 91,

229 : Bada’uni, Muntakhab, vol. Ill, p, 316 (transl.), Ill, p t 227 (text); Abul-
Fazl, A f in-i Akhari f transl, p. 103.

230. Qati c i, Majma c al-sfoCarti, p, 50: “His thulutk was like that of Tabbakh, his
rihdm better than Yaqut’s.” Ashraf Khan was, like Qati c i, a disciple of Dost-Sal-
inan T a name thaL may be read as Dost-i Salman or Dost-i Sulayman. That would
then point to Dost-Muhammad, whose father's name was Sulayman. See Dickson-
Wekh, The Houghton Shakname, vol* I* p. 118. Qati c i f ibid., pp, 53-54, speaks also
about Mir Kalang who, along with Ashraf Khan and Khawaja Mahmud Ishaq,
worked in Akbar’s library (which would be impossible if he had died, as note on
p, 255 has it, based on Mir c Ala*addaula Qazvini, in 953/1546). Mir Kalang, ac-
cording to Qati fs statement, worked together with Mir Dauri and Hafiz Mu ham-

183

mad Amin to “write the story of Hamza which I [Qati c i] had made and finished
and brought into bound volumes, and they displayed their fine writing." If this
remark is correct, the authorship of the Hamza-ndma would be ascertained, in
spite of Mir c Ala*addaula Qazvinfs statement in the NafaLs al-ma Ydhir, that Rha-
waja c Ata’ullah* the munshi from Qazvin, composed the work (quoted by Pramod
Chandra, The Cleveland Tutinami\ appendix 2). The conflicting Herati and Qazvini
traditions will have to he carefully studied to ascertain the truth of QatTi’s re-
marks, Even though lie was very advanced in age when he composed the MajmeT
al-shu^ar&j anti may have mixed up the names of some artists, yet it is rather
unlikely that he should have claimed authorship for such a voluminous work as
the fiamm-ndma if he had not had at least some share in it.

231. TH, p. 654, Bada 1 Lirii, Munlakhab r vol. Ill, p. 227 (transl.). Dauri was a
disciple of Molla Qasim Shadhi and studied together with Sultan-Mahmud of
Turbat, another well-known calligrapher. He wrote, among other works, a copy
of Amir Khusrau's Duval Ram Khizr Khan for Akbar’s library. On the return from
the pilgrimage he and a friend of his "became food for crocodiles and fishes” at
the Gujarat coast.

232. See Bada'uni, Munlakhab, voL III, pp* 150, 253, 467, 518 (transl.). 1 he
most outstanding master was Muhammad Husayn Zarrinqalam, mentioned ibid.,
p. 378 (transl ), p, 273 (text); see Huart, p. 230; QA y p, 99; Abul-Fazl, A’in-i Ahbari ;
p + 1 09, transl.; Bayani pp. 702-4; AtbumblMter, no. 4; A. Welch, Calligraphy t no.
76; A. Welch, Art of the Precious Booh, M 146 verso. Among the manuscripts that
he wrote for Akbar, we mention the Kharpsa of Amir Khusrau in the Metropolitan
Museum, written in 1006/1597-98; the Aklrfimama in the British Library (see Losty,
Art of the Book, nos. 70-71); a Gulistdn , written in 1581 in Fathpur Sikri, in the
Royal Asiatic Society (see Losty, ibid., no. 58); a BaMristdn written in 1004/1595,
in the Bodleian Library (see Losty, ibid., no. 64).

233. Khalifa Shay kb Ghulam Muhammad, Haft Fqlfm-i Akbar shahl, British Mu-
seum Or. 186L

234. Mir Ma c sum Nami was one of the most important historians of Sind; his
Tdnkhd Marumi contains valuable information about the history of his home
province, the Lower Indus Valley; see Schimmel, “Islamic Literatures of India,”
p. 45; Storey, Persian Literature, pp. 651—52. Ab’LFazL A'in-i Ahbari, transl., 1, pp.
514—15, and Bada’uui, Munlakhab, vol ill, p. 500 (transl.), II, p. 366 (text), give
information about him; and Nath, Calligraphic Art , has photographs of some of
his inscriptions. The date of Jahangirs accession as given in Agra fort was com-
posed and calltgraphed by him.

235. QA, p. 153: Maulana Muhammad Amin, who also worked on the Hamza-
rntma; see note 230, above.

236. Islamic Culture, vol. IV, 1931, p. 627.

237. The Ma'athir-i rahimi tells that one of the Khankhanan s admirers com-
posed a mathnaxn in praise of him; the Khankhanan sent it to Kashan to have u
calligraphed by Mir MuTzzuddin, and the master, after fulfilling his wish, and
returning the poem to India, received 10,000 rupees, Mu c izzuddin (see note 224,

184

above) was indeed considered to equal Sultan- c A!i and Mir- c Aji {Bay am, p, 8 1 9),
TH f p. 726, claims that he was a Sunnite and therefore praises him. He died in
981/1573-74. The Khankhanan corresponded also with Mir- c Imad (Bayani, pp*
531-52),

238, Bay am, no, 536; Albumhldtter, no, 22, dated 1021/1612, In A. Welch, Art of
the Precious Book, a manuscript of the Akhlaq-i N&yiri is ascribed to c Ambari nqalam .
The miniature at the end of the manuscript is published in S, C. Welch, Imperial
Mughal Painting, pi, 19, and as dust cover for Losty, The Art of the Book, where it
appears also on pi. XXI, no, 65, A considerable number of miniatures, predomi-
nantly Moghul, but also Ottoman, show calligraphers at work; it would be a re-
warding task to compare them, including the fine border drawings in imperial
Moghul albums. For examples see A. Welch, Calligraphy, no, 76 (in color plate
12); Kiihneb hlamische Sckriftkimsi, fig. 87; Safadi, Islamic Calligraphy, nos, 95, 1)9,
and 102. Schimmel, Islam in India and Pakistan (Iconography), pi XXVI b.

239, Bayani , p. 258. That happened in 1017/1608. The book came then as part
of Nadir Shah/s booty in 1739, from Delhi to Tehran, where it was in the Impe-
rial Library. Jahangir himself tells how he bestowed a Koran in Yaqut's handwrit-
ing to Sayyid Muhammad, a descendant of Shah c Alam, the great fifteenth -cen-
tury saint of Gujarat, and asked him to translate the text into plain Persian,
Tuzuk-i Jah&ngm, voi. II, transL, pp. 34-35.

240, Tuzuk-i Jahdngm, vol. I, transit p, 168. The Khankhanan brought him
J ami’s Yumf Zulaykhd in Mir- C All’s hand in 1610; this manuscript was valued at
1 ,000 gold mo huts.

241, For Ibrahim ibn Mir-Tmad see Huart , p. 245.

242, Bayani, no. 514; on p. 541 a letter from him, imploring Shahjahan for
help,

243, Ziauddin, Moslem Calligraphy , p. 40, According to Habib, p. 197, he died
in Kashmir in 1048/1638, but that is less likely.

244, Bayani , no. 402, p, 288; a fragment by him in A. Welch, Calligraphy, no.
78, dated 1031/1620. Sec S. A. Shere, +< A wayli of Prince Khurram/ 1 dated
1025/1616-17, About the calligrapher who was responsible for the decoration of
the Taj Mahal see Wayne Begley, "Amanat and the Calligraphy of the Taj Ma-
hal, 1 Among the numerous precious books in Shahjahan’s library was a copy of
Sanaa’s Hadiqat al-haqiqa, written by Sultan- c Ali in 882/1478; it is now in the Salar
Jung Museum, Hyderabad,

245, Bayani, no. 310, mentions only fragments from Dara T s hand in Delhi, in
the Bodleian Library, and one piece in Berlin, previously described by KuhneL
But see the AlbumblaUer, nos. 32, 42, 35, where the signature is partly rubbed off,
apparently after Dara’s execution; further, the fine piece in the Fogg Art Museum
(published in A, Welch, Calligraphy, no. 81), dated 1631.

246, Information kindly supplied by Wasmaa Chorbachi, who saw r this Koran
in Baghdad in January 1982.

247, Bayani, no. 199,

248, Ibid*, no, 1081, p. 748.

185

249. Ibid, mentions him twice, no. 1253 and no. 1402.

250. Ibid., no. 633, He became a haxdn, commander of thousand, after Au-
rangzeb had ascended the throne. See Albumblatter, nos. 44 and 50,

251. Albumbldtter, no, 28, a praise poem for the Prophet (wrongly identified in
the explanation), Korans by A urangzeb are in the Museum of Bijapur, the Salar
fang Museum, and the Hyderabad Museum, and probably in many other plates.

252- Bayani, no* 303.

253. Ibid., no. 1088.

254. Ibid., no. 159, Examples arc found in the Museums of Lahore and Delhi,
one example in SchtmmeL hktm in India and Pakistan (Iconography), fig. 16.

255. Khwaja M, Ahmad, “Calligraphy,” in Sherwani-Joshi, History of Medieval
Deccan.

256. Azad Bilgrami, Khizdnad amira, pp. 21-22.

257. Htmrt, p. 96. The poem is quoted in full in Habib, p. 66 (see note 127,
above).

258. See Mahmud Gawan, Kami al-m$ha\ p. 63:

If the ocean would become ink for me

and the Tigris and the Euphrates and every valley,

and the earth would sprout altogether pens

with which one could write till the Day of Judgment—

even then I could not count the amount

of longing which is troubling my heart!

259. Habib, p. 125. Ayverdi, Fatih devri hattatlan, fig, 5, shows some of his mir-
rored thuluth inscriptions. He is buried in the Hattatlar makberi , the calligraphers'
cemetery, in Istanbul; see also 777, p. 582.

260. Bay am, no. 1021; 777, pp. 690 f., confuses him, understandably, with the
other c Alis of Herat and Mashhad. Besides, Mustaqimzade + s strongly and-Shia
attitude prevents him f rom f ully acknowledging the masterpieces written by Per-
sian Shiite calligraphers,

261. Habib, pp. 185-86, Sayyid Ahmad of Mashhad,

262. Bay am, no. 297; cf. also Habib, pp. 195-96. The Indian Heritage, no. 43, a
page from this manuscript, now in the Benkaim collection,

263. For the whole field see B. D. Varma, I+c Adil Shahi Epigraphy."

264. A page that is most probably by him with a Nadi c Aliyyan in Albumbldtter,
no, 30. The high standard of calligraphy in the Deccan ca, 1600 is also evident
from the qapda of the Bijapuri poet Nusrati in honor of c Abdallah Qutbshah
(Brit, Library, Or, 13533), with alternating thuluth and naskh lines; see Losty, The
Art of the- Book , no. 103. A considerable number of manuscripts from the royal
libraries of Bijapur and Golcorida, including a deluxe copy of Muhammad -Quli
Qutbshah’s poetiy, are now in the Salar Jung Museum.

265. Ghafur, Calligraphers of Thutta; Ibrahim Taitawi, Takmila, p. 551. Cf. also
Burton, Sindh and the Races That Inhabit the Valley of the Indus, p. 396,

266. Habib , p, 153: Murad IL

186

267. His teacher was Hasan ibn c Abdus-Samad as-Samsuni; see also Huart t p.

1 19*

268. Ay verdi, Fatih devri haUatiarl, fig. 5; see note 259, above,

269. SH f pp. 27 ff., p. 45: His maternal unde Jalal Amasi and his two sons
Jamal and Muhyi'ddin. Mil, p, 25, says about him;

When the writing of Hamdi, the Shaykh’s son, appeared,
it was certain (muhaqqaq) in the world that the script
of Yaqut was abolished (nashh)

See Malik Celal, Seyh Hamdullah.

270. Saghani's Mashdriq al-anwar , Baghawi’s Ma$&bTh a$-$unna t but also Hunayn
ibn Ishaq s work on medicine are mentioned among the hooks Hamdullah copied.
A beautiful album with Prophetic traditions is now in the Metropolitan Museum.

271. Cover, Turk yazi itleri, p. 7, CP TH t p. 453. Both of Hamdullah’s sons,
Mehmet Dede and Mustafa Dede, excelled in their father's profession; his daugh-
ter married Shukrullah, Hamdullah’s former servant and apprentice, who was to
become his true successor. A poem on the lineage is quoted TH r pp. 628-29, and
Habib, p, 87:

Shaykh Hamdullah, and his noble son-in-law Shukrullah,
the third his son Mehmet, then Uskudari Hasan;

Erzerumlu Khalid became the filth among the calligraphers,
the sixth one Dervish c All, the seventh Suyolcuzade of pure art;

Hafiz Osman obtains the eighth rank,

Sayyid c Abdallah is the irnxim of his class in penmanship.

Hcxa Rasim with two wings was it with whom "the pen dried up”;

He was in the six styles unique like an alif r of perfect shape.

Such is this line, which is complete with ten— -

May God Most Gracious make the souls of all of them happy!

Caliigraphies of Hamdullah and his family are found rather frequently; a good
number of album pages are in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston* See also Ar-
berrv, The Koran Illuminated , nos* 189, 190, 193, 201. A. Welch, Calligraphy , no.
92; A. Welch, The Art of the Precious Book, M 47, perhaps written for Sultan Ba-
yezid 11, the artist's patron.

272. So much so that shehri (from the city) in Mustaqimzade's diction means
simply from (thepotis) Istanbul*

273. TH, p. 663.

274. Yahya as-Sufi should not be confused with the elder Sufi, who wrote many
inscriptions in Shiraz and Najaf and was one of Yaqut’s direct disciples; one of
his Korans, dated 745/1344^45, in Lings, The Quranic Art of Calligraphy, pi. 50.

275. Habib, p. 86; see also MH, p. 25: “Qarahisari [i.e.* ‘he from the black
castle 1 ] is it who makes the paper’s face shine white,” that is, honors it.

276. Zaynuddin, Mu^awwar al-kkatt, no* 222,

277. Hasan Qelebi wrote a Koran for Selim II in 977/1570; see Arberry, The

187

Karan Illuminated, no. 195. Other disciples of Qarahisari were Farhad Pasha (d.
984/1576) and Dervish Mehmet (d. 1 000/ J 593).

278. TH, p. 94; the formula is used for another calligrapher but is too charm-
ing to be left out. About Qarahisari's death, TH, p* 100.

279. TH, p. 516; Habib, p. 152.

280. Huari, p. 235. The text (77 pages) was edited by the best authority on
Ottoman calligraphy, Mahmud Ibnul Emin, with an interesting introduction of
135 pages. Some examples of c Ali Efendi’s naskh were still found sixty years ago
(introduction, p. 101). c Ali Efendi died in 1008/1599 at the age of sixty after
having worked in Istanbul, Cairo, Syria, Iran, and other countries where he ac-
companied his masters during numerous campaigns, as he describes them in more
or less elegant verses. Habib, p. 216, is extremely critical of his work.

281. c Ahdallah Qirimi (d* 999/1590-91) wanted to invent a new style of nashh,
'"with long teeth of the,vm J ’ and other changes. See TH, p. 289.

282. Maori, p. 124; the work is by Mehmet Cencerecizade, written in 980/1572.

283. Boy ant, no, 132, p. 82; see Huart, p. 234, TH, p. 641, and Habib , p. 184,
refrain from this remark.

284. Huart, p. 263. Habib , p. 245, quotes Nargisi/ade as saying:

His Majesty Sultan Murad the Great,

a ruler the like of whom the world has never seen:

virtuous, caring for scholars, eloquent,

brave, a poet and a calligrapher, and a versifier.

TH, pp. 738-39,

285. C Hafiz Osman ; Habib, pp. 121-23; TH , p. 171.

286. The chronogram is, “Longing tor the eternal kingdom, Osman Efendi
said Hu ' (He) = U 10/1698. He is buried in Kocamustafapa§a. A little human
touch: according to TH, p. 172, he loved to watch wrestling matches.

287. TH, p. 539. For Suleyman II (r. 1687-90), a disciple of Toqadizade, see
TH, p, 209.

288. Habib, p, 157,

289. TH, p. 302.

290. Habib , p. 118*

29 L Habib, pp. 94-95 T gives chronograms by Vehbi and Nedim for this event,
Nedim’s chronogram is Bu nazik khatt-i Sultan Ahmad'a baq da du £ d eyle, “Look at
this elegant script of Sultan Ahmad and bless him.” Other chronograms for this
occasion in Habib, pp. 140, 144, 147,

292. In Turk ve Islam Eserleri Miizesi, Topkapi Env. 272, 4; cf. Cavit Avel, “Turk
sanatinda ay nail yazllar.”

293. Habib, p. 95. fie sent one Koran to Medina, TH, pp. 76-79, One of his
Korans is In the tekke of Kocamustafapa$a; he wrote also the proverb “Fear of
God is the beginning of wisdom 1 * in the Aya Sofya.

294. Habib, p. 122; TH, p. 384, for Mehmet III (d. 1170/1756).

295* Avd, “Turk sanatinda aynall yazllar.”

188

296. SH, pp. 35-38.

297. Habib, p. 44; tlnver-Athari, Jbn al-Bawwdb, p. 22. The two verses are
quoted in all major Arabic historical works, from Ibn Khallikan to Qalqashandi.

298. Thus Tahir ibn Hasan (d. 1051/1641), the author of the Tdnkh-i Ttihiri ,
quoted in Ghafur, Calligraphy of Thatta, p. 59.

CHAPTER THREE

L MH, p. 41.

2. Aslah, $hu c ara-yi Kashmir, S, I, p. 135.

3. Furuzanfar, Ahddith-i Mathnavz, no. 97; for Rumi’s interpretation in Math-
nawi t vol. V, 1L 3132 ff., see Sehimmei, Triumphal Sun ? pp, 259-62.

4. TH, p, 8.

5. Khushhal Khan Khatak, Muntakhabdt, rubti c i no. 88,

6. Fuzuli, Divan, no. Cl II.

7. Ibid,, no. XXX, 6.

8. Shah c Abdul Latif, Risdlo, Sur Husayni, VIII, 8.

9. Ruzbihan Baqti, c Abhar al- c ashiqin, para. 120.

10. Ghalib, Urdu Divan, nun no. 6. Rut cf. Kalim, Divdn t ghmal no, 134-

I here is not such a dif ference in the writing of one scribe
ihesamivisht of everyone is from the pen of Faie!

11. Ghalib, Urdu Divan, wdw no. 2; cf. Scbimmel, Dance of Sparks, p, 113, See
also Tlrfi’s remark that he, a child, studies the first lesson of love, “but the in-
tended letter does not drip from the pen, because the pen of my fortune has a
narrow split” (Kuiliydt, ghamf p, 283),

12. TH, p, 7.

13. Ibn c Arabl , Journey to the Lord of Power , p. 113 n.

14. See TH, p. 7, in the forty hadith about writing.

15. S. H. Nasr, “Cosmography in Pre-Islamic and Islamic Persia,” p, 51,

16. Marquet > Ikhv&n a?-$afa, p. 67.

17. Quoted in Habib, p. 222.

18. Thus Suras 10/62; 18/47; 34/3; 83/7-12; 17/14; 69/19 and 25.

19. Ibn al-Bawwab, “Ra’iyya," transl, Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddima, transl. Ro-
senthal, vol. II, pp. 278-82. Also in Ai berry, The Koran Illuminated f Introduction.

26, Talib, in Aslah, $hu c ard-yi Kashmir, S T II, p. 691.

21. Rumi, Mathnawi, vol. II, 1. 3382; cf. ibid., vol, V, 1, 1961: man’s mind is the
paper on which the master can write, A similar comparison is also found in Guru
Nanak’s work: “Our body is paper with our destiny written on it” (Mohan Singh,
in Guru Nanak Memorial Volume, p, 9).

22, Quoted in every Muslim work on calligraphy or writing, and included in
the Forty kadith on writing collected by Mustaqimzade, TH, p. 10, and QA f p. 50.
For different styles of the bomala see the drawings in Qalqashandi, §ubk aLa c sM,

189

voL HI, pp. 129 If.; Schimmel, Islamic Calligraphy, pp, 17-19; Safadi, Islamic Cal-
ligraphy , pp. 31-39.

23. TH, p. 343. The calligrapher was Tmaduddin ibn c Afif {d. 736/1336),

24, Akselj TiirMerde dini resimler, p. 18.

25, TH, p. 45, in connection with Ibn Hilal as-Sabi,

26. TH, p. 624,

27. Nwyia, Exggise coramque et langage mystique, p, 165,

28. Ritter, Meet der Seek , pp. 270, 295. A Bengali colleague told us that people
in the rural areas of Bengal still pick up anything on which Arabic letters are
written, even though it may lie an empty cigarette box, A very interesting study
about the spread of the Arabic alphabet over the world from Somali to Mongolian
and Japanese is Hegyi, “Minority and Restricted Uses of the Arabic Alphabet."

29, Lings, The Quranic Art of Calligraphy, p. 17,

30, This happened to me in Ankara in 1955; the kdfiz was a highly educated
civil servant who taught the recitation of the Koran at the Il&hiyat Fakultesi (Fac-
ulty of Islamic Theology) in Ankara.

3L About the technique of these arrangements see Sami ha Ayverdi, in Sc him -
mef "Eine Istanbulei Sc hrifts teller in," p. 58 1 ,

32. Vchbi Efendi (d, 1261/1845), quoted in SH, p. 454. Mustaqimzade, TH, p.
9, connects the three fingers with which one holds the pen, with Muhammad
(index), c Ali (thumb), and Abu Bakr (middle finger).

33. QA, p. 55.

34. TH, p. 187,

35. TH, p. 470.

36. In Indo-Pakistan the boy is called bismilldh ka dulhd (the bridegroom of bis-
milldh) and is dressed up like a bridegroom.

37. TH, p. 6.

38. Rertholct, Dk Macht der Sckrifi , p. 37.

39. Bada’uni, Muntakkab, vol. II, p. 408 (transl.), II, p. 394 (text). That hap-
pened in 1002/1593-94 ; TH, p. 561.

40. For pictures of a fine Indian bowl with inscription see A, Welch, Calligra-
phy, no. 80; $ c h im me! , Islam in India and Pakistan (Iconography), pi, XLIV b.

41. A. Welch, Calligraphy, no. 57; the mystical meaning of barely legible inscrip-
tions on metalwork has been highlighted by A. S. Melikian Shirvani in his publi-
cations. See also Aanavi, “Devotional Writing: ‘Pseudo-Inxtiptions’ in Islamic Art"

42. “Talismanic undershirt," in Feherviri-Safadi, 1400 Years of Islamic Art, p.
164. Several examples are in the Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad; see Schimmel,
Islam in India and Pakistan (Iconography), pi. XLIV a; a related coat of chain mail
with Shia inscriptions in A. Welch, Calligraphy, no. 37.

43. Verse by Khan-i Arzu t quoted in Azad Bilgrami, Khizdna-yi c dmira f p. 120,

44. A. Welch, Calligraphy, no. 30.

45. Ibid., no. 24; a silk tombcloth, ibid,, no, 62, contains the Nadi c Aiiyyan and
Sura 61/13, See also Schimmel, Islamic Calligraphy, pi. XXXI b, c,

46. Grabar, “The Umayyad Dome of the Rock,” pp. 53-55.

190

47. For the importance of the Burda see Schimmel, As Through a Veil , pp. 185-
87. See also Chapter 2, note 173, above.

48. 77/, p. 606, speaks at length about the blessings involved in writing the
htilya* See also Chapter 2, note 171, above*

49. The ten companions of the Prophet, to whom he promised paradise are:
Abu Rakr, c Omar, e Othman, c A 1 i a Talha, Zubayr, Sa c d ibn Abi 1-Waqqas, Sa c id,
c Abdallah, and c Abdur- Rahman ibn c Auf.

50. 7Te Greek names of the Seven Sleepers are used as an amulet; ii written
in circular form, they contain in the center the name of the faithful dog, Qitmir.
For a specimen written in 1318/1910, see Schimmel, Islamic Calligraphy , pi. XLI1I
a,

51. One of these apotropaic inscriptions, which are usually interpreted as a
mihrdb t hut look almost like an arrow, is in the Fogg Art Museum, another one in
a private collection; they seem to come from the Deccan. See S. C. Welch, Indian
Drawings, no. 38; A, Welch, Calligraphy, pi. 88; Sc: hi mine 1, Islam in India and Paki-
stan (Iconography), pL XI,.

52. A good example is the Divdn-i Hafiz in the Bankipore Khudabakhsh Li-
brary, in which the Moghul emperors Humayun, Jahangir, and Shahjahan noted
down their comments about the outcome of cer tain prognostications; see Schim-
me\, Islam in India and Pakistan (Iconography), pi. XXL Gf. also Jahangir’s remark
in Tuzuh-i Jahangir! (transl.), p. 38.

53. The term “paper shirt” occurs from early times onward and is also attested
in historical works. Some examples: Fa’iii, in c Auft , Lubdh al-albdb, vol. II, p* 345;
Khaqani, Divan, pp. 258, 500, 541, 557; c Attar, Divan, ghazal no. 490; Rumi, Di-
van, no, 2134; Amir Khusrau, Divan, nos. 296, 902, 1152, 1712; Hafiz, Divan, ed.
Injuvl, p. 122, where also a related verse by Auhadi is quoted; Fighani, Divdn, no.
310; and Ghalib also in his Persian qasida no. 9.

54. Amir Khusrau, Dwan, no. 1080.

55. Furuzanfar, Ahddith-i Mathnawi, no. 13.

56. Rumi, Divan, no. 2350; see also Mathnam, vol. Ill, Et. 2777-78.

57. Rumi, Divan , no. 1521; cf. also ibid., nos, 1664, 1915, 2530, and the chap-
ter “Divine Calligraphy,” in Schimmel, Triumphal Sun.

58. Rumi, rubd% Ms. Es c at Efendi, foL 336 a L

59. “I have never seen someone shed tears, and at the same time smile, more
beautifully than the qalam" is an often quoted saying by Ja c far ibn Yahya (Rosen-
thal, Four Essays, p. 39); MH, p. 9, wrongly attributes it to Imam Ja c far as-Sadiq.

60. c Attar, Divan, ghazal no. 508; cf. Sana'i, Hadiqa, chap. VI II, p. 625.

61* Ibid., ghazal no. 602.

62, Rumi, Divan, no, 1948.

63, Rumi, Mathnawi , vol IV, 11. 3722 If.

64, Ghazzali, Ikya c ulum ad-din f i( Bdb atduuiakkul , ” German translation in Hans
We hr, Al-Ghazalis Buch vom Gotlvertrauen ,

65, Izutsu, “The Basic Structure of Metaphysical Thinking,” p. 66.

66, Johns, “Daifid’ik aThurufT pp, 68-69.

191

67. Ibid, p* 72,

68. Rumi, Divan, no. 2251,

69. TH, p* 602.

70. Massignon; “La Philosophic Orientals dlbn Slna*” p, 2,

7L Rumi, McUhnam, voL V, I. 1316*

72. Massignon, “La Philosophic Orientale*” p. 9.

73. Canteim* La Vote des Lettres, chap. III, “Sigles et th£matiques coraniques*”
The “sectarian interpret a tion” is by Khaki Khorasani,

74. Ibid., chap. V/'TaHa."

75. Massignon, “La Philosophic Orientale*” p. 11, Ydsin was often interpreted
as Yd msan, “Oh human being!”

76. Ibid*, p, 9; Ritter, Pkatrix, Arabic text, pp. 171-75, also about astrological
connections between the secret names of the Koranic suras and the stars.

77. Marque t, Ikhvdn p. 321.

78* El, s.v. djafr; Massignon, La Passion de . . * Hallaj, vol. I, pp. 246-47, and
voL III, pp, 103-10.

79. One example: Hartmann* Eine istamische Apoktilyp.se der Kreuzzugszeit.

80. TH, p. 599,

81. El, s * v T hisab al-djummaf See also Ibn Khaldun* The Muqaddima, trans. Ro-
senthal, vol. III* pp. 171—226, "The Science of the Secrets of the Letters”; Fahd,
La Divination Arabe; Horten* Die reiigiosen V orstellungm des Volkes im Islam; Dorn-
seifl t Das Alphabet in Mystik und Magie * As early as the tenth century, Hamza al-
Isfahani* At-tanMk, p. 108, writes that the astrologers claim that the word al-qalim
(pen) according to the hisab al-jummal is equivalent to naff a c (most useful), since
both have the numerical value of 201.

82* Corbin* “Le Livre du Glorieux de Jabir Ibn Hayy5n,”

83. Massignon* “La Philosophic Orientale*" pp. 4-5.

84. Dhauqi* Srrr-i dilbardn, pp. 358-65.

85. Massignon, “La Philosophic Orientale,” p. 10, Similar ideas are also found
in the medieval Jewish tradition*

86. Sana'i, Divan, p. 667; cf. also ibid.* p. 333.

87. Yunus Krnre, Divan, p. 524.

88. Sahl at-Tustari* in Sarraj , Kitdb al-luma c * p, 89.

89. Quoted in Nwyia* Exegese coranique et langage mystique , p. 166. For a twen-
tieth-century interpretation of the letters see Lings, A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth
Century, chap, VI, “The Symbolism of the Alphabet,” esp, pp. 154-55.

90. c Attar, Usklumdma, p* 95,

91. Ru m i* Divan, no , 2356.

92. Sanai ,Hadiqa, chap. II* p. 187; Sana’i* "Sayr al-Hhad” in Mathnavihd, L 700;
Rumi* Maihnawi, vol. VI, 11. 2239-45*

93* Isfara’ini, Kdshif al-a$rdr, p, 77,

94. Sana’i* Hadzqa, p. 110.

95. Yunus Em re T Divan, p. 308* no. LIX,

96. Huart, Houroufis, p. 364.

192

97, Hafiz, Divan, ed. Ahmad-Na'im, p, 363, no, 315* mm no. 9*

98. Shah c Abdul Latif, Risdld, Yaman Kalya n, V, 21 ; see also Sur Ramakali, V,
3, about the Yogis as prototypes of the “spiritual man”: "The adeds (= homeless
ones) have, at the beginning, placed the alif in their mind,” Bullhe Shah, in Qdnun-
i c i\hq, no* 75, cf, nos, 77, 78; Sultan Bahu, in Ramakrishna, Panjabi Sufi Poets, p,
52; Abdal Musa, in Figure Bekt/iyi §airUri, p. 2 1 , and many more examples,

99* Qddi Qfidan jo kaldm, no. 99.

100. Rumi, Divan, no. 2, Ruini has a very strange letter poem in his tarkibband
no, 12, 11. 351 17-20,

101, hktiqdq kabir is the explanation of each letter according to its pronuncia-
tion; thus, the letter wdw would be = 6, alif = i + w = 6 — 13. Thus, every
word can he taken apart and interpreted and then sometimes exchanged for an-
other word or letter with the same numerical value.

102. These speculations are still very much alive in mystical circles; see, e.g., in
Sindh i, Makhzan Shah Q Abdul Latff Bkitd% p, 62,

103, Massignon, “La Philosophic Orientale,” p. 14, Rumi too speaks once of
the proud, stubborn alif and admonishes his listeners not to be like it, nor like the
bd\ hut rather like a jim, Divan, no, 1744*

194. Friedmann, Ahmad Sirhindi, p, 15, has dealt in detail with these specula-
tions. There is also the idea that Adam — “man” — consists in reality of the letters
of Muhammad: his head is a mm, his hand a hay his middle part another mim,
and the rest a dal , thus the human figure came into existence; quoted in jurji,
Illumination in Islamic Mysticism, p. 84.

105. c Attar, Musibatndma, introduction, p* 20.

106. Shabistari, Gulshan-i raz , says:

From Ahmad to Ahad there is only one m difference —
the world is submersed in this one ml

Practically all poets in the eastern Islamic tradition from ca, 1200 onward use
this hadith qudsi with the exception of the Naqshbandis; it was particularly fre-
quently quoted in folksongs such as in Sindhi, Panjabi, Gujarati, Kashmiri, Uzbek,
etc. The Rektashis in Turkey had a special mim duasi, a prayer centering on the
letter m* GhaJib, in his praise of the Prophet, goes even further in his explanation
of the mysteries of Ahmad: Alif is the letter of Divinity; mim, that of Muhammad;
and the remaining two letters, hd* and ddl } have the numerical value of 8 and 4,
respectively which makes 12, and points to the twelve imams of Shia Islam. See
Schimmel, “Ghalib’s qasida in Honor of the Prophet,” and Schimmel, Dance of
Sparks, p, 129,

107. Ramakrishna. Panjabi Siifi Poets, p. 99, with allusions to the alif.

108. Amir Khusrau, Divan, no. 596.

109. Ibid., no. 601.

1 10. Ruzbihan Raqli, Sharh-i shathiydt, para* 13.

1IL Gan te ins. La Voie des Lettres, pp. 35 ft** according to Buni, Shams al-ma Q drif
ahkttbrd, vol, I, p, 43.

193

1 J 2 , Corbin, “Epiphany," p. 135,

1 13, TH, p* 5.

J 14. As a mystical tradition says, +< I never saw anything but the ba* was written
on it,” quoted in Daudpota, Kalom-i Girhon, p. 55, where more examples are found.
See also Nicholson, Studies in Islamic Mysticism, p. 209, n, 94,

115. Rumi, Divan, no. 1520, A riddle by the founder ol the Shadhiliyya order,
Abul-Hasan ash-Shadhtii, playing on the letters nun and c ayn y which are supposed
to point to Surat ar-Rahmdn (Sura 55), cited in TH f p. 633.

116. Meier, Vom Wesen der islamischen Mystik, p> 30, quotes Najmuddin Rubra:
“If you are afflicted do not say Okh, for that is the name of Satan, but say All,
for that is God’s name — the h in Allah is this very h

117. Ibn c Arabi, ATfitiufydt al-makkiyya, quoted by Corbin, Creative Imagination ,
p, 171. Ibn c Arabi has a number of books and treatises about the mystical mean-
ing of the letters and numerals to his credit, see GAL , II, pp* 574, 578. Another
mystic in his succession, who worked in this field, is ^AbdufKarim al-jili, Haqiqat
al-haqaiq, see GAL, II, p. 265, and 5, II, p. 284.

118. c Andalih, Ntila-i c Andalib, vol i, p. 270.

119. Rumi, Divan, no. 1728.

120. Teufel, c Ali-i Hamadnnl, p, 87, n. 2.

121. Canteins* La Voie des Lettres t p. 4 1.

122. TH, p. 292; cl. Habib, p. 121.

123 . Aksel, Tiirklerde dim resimler, figs, 11-16, of fers numerous pictures of dif-
ferent types of wait'. *

124, The Sufis also liked to play with the letters c ayn ^ and^g/kipa, since c ayn
also means “essence, eye, fountain*” Thus, the Deccani mystical poet Qadi Mah-
mud Bahri sings in the late seventeenth century:

In tins world which is like the letters of the alphabet,

thou alone art ^ayn (the true essence) and the rest h gkayn (“absent,” from gkayhat)

“Divan-i Qadi Mahmud Bahri/’ no. 40, verse 4.

125, Goldziher, “Aus der Litevatur der muhammadanischen Mystik,” p* 782,
But even a sober historian like Qalqashandi mentions this kadith in al-a c shd f
vol. Ill, p. 7,

126, Ed. by J. C. Vadet, who also translated it. A new edition of the compli-
cated text would be welcome.

127, Ibn c Arabi, Al-futuhM al-makkiyya, pp. 75 ff. s 177. Cf. also Massignon, La
Passion de * , , Halldj, vol III, pp. 103-40, about the relation between the Id and
the al of the definite article and similar topics*

128, Corbin, “Epiphany,” p. 99, The beginning of an interesting qa$ida about
the meaning of the basmaia is contained in a page in the Metropolitan Museum,
see here color pi. no, 4, Its author, the noted poet Ja mi, claims that bismiUtih is
the Greatest Name of God, and that the 18,000 worlds have found blessings from
its 18 letters.

129* Schimmel, Dance of Sparks, p, 129,

194

130. Ruzbihan Baqli, Sharh-i shafhiydt, p, 196, speaks of tbe Id as scissors.

131. Aksef Turklerde dint resimler, cover picture*

132. Jami, Silstfat adh-dhahab, in Haft Aurang, p, 18.

133. Sc him mel. Dance of Sparks, pp, 127-28.

134. Gramlich, Schiitische D^rwischorden, vol. 111, p, 19.

135. Jami, Silsilat adk-dhahah, in Haft Aurang , pp. 21 f; to also Canteins, “La
specchio della Shahada."

136. TH, p. 630. There is also a du c d-yi qdf, consisting { >f four Koranic verses
with ten qtif each, TH , p. 634*

137. Sana'i, Divan, p. 309. Pseudo-Majrkt derives another interesting conclu-
sion from the first and last letters of the Fdtiha (without the hasmtda): th calif with
which the sura begins points to the beginning of the world of Divine Order, amr t
and the nun of the last word, a 4-dallm, points to the end, nihdya, of the created
world; Ritter, Picatrix, Arabic text, p, 17 L

138. Khanqahi, Guzida dar ta§aumuf, p, 47; cf. ibid., p. 69, for a similar inter-
pretation of ftikmat (wisdom),

139. Khaki Khorasani, Divan, p. 107. Even Nizami* in Layla u Majnun, p, 454,
plays with the numerical value of his name: Nizami A numerical value is 1*001,
while his given name, Ilyas, by a sub: Factional trick, comes to 99,

140. Sijistani, Kitdh al-yandbi c , paras. 147-48.

141. Hallaj, Diwdn, ed, Shaybi, no, 38, pp, 214-16, with the poems by Ahmad
Ghazzali, Shushtari* and others. For Allah as the Greatest Name that always gives
a meaning, even if divided, see Nicholson, Studies in Islamic Mysticism , p. 209, n,
96* for Jitfs argumentation; the same idea is found in Sarraj* Kitdb al-luma c > p.
89: when one takes the alif from Allah, there remains iilldh, “for God ,h ^j3*
when the first lam is taken away, Idku, “for him"^), remains and finally the k is
the pronoun of third person singular masculine*

142. Hallaj, Diwdn, ed. Shaybi, p, 215.

143. TH * p. 45; the author wrote a 1 urkish commentary on this riddle,

144. Schaya* La doctrine soitfique de VunitS, p. 83; for his interpretation of the
Divine Name ar-ra^man see p. 47; it contains the seven essential qualities of God:
alif (life), 1dm (knowledge), rfd (power)* kd’ (will)* mm (hearing)* the vertical alif
(seeing)* and nun (speaking).

145. Ruzbihan BaqLi, Sharhd shafhiyat, paras. 11-16.

146. GL Khaqani, Dwdn, qasid<i> p. 301.

147. TH , pp. 614-15,

148. TH, p. 629.

149. Isfara’ini, Kashi f al-Asrdr * pp* 72-79.

150. Vizeli Alaettin* quoted in Golplnarll, Meldmiler ve meldmilik, p. 208,

15L See Arherry* “A Sufi Alphabet,”

152. Mustaqimzade has composed a prayer of letters, and a Sufi profession of
faith according to the letters of th ebasmala, TH, Introduction* p. 51. See also c All
ibn Ibrahim al-Mirghani (d. 1792), Al-hikam c ald huruf al-mufam, GAL S, li, p.
258, and again from the eighteenth century, "Abdur Rahman ibn Muhammad al-

195

Ristami, Kitdb fTPkaldrn c ald kuruf isvu Muhammad, Ms, Princeton, Yehuda Coll*
No, 4522, fols, 42b-52h. In popular Sufism, particularly in the dervish orders,
such books and treatises were very common, and are found from Morocco to
Indonesia. We find the same motif also in a short treatise by the great calligrapher
-Abdallah as -Say raft (Berlin Ms, or. oct, 48), who praises God’s creative work with
skillfull allusions to each letter in alphabetical sequence, beginning with theafijf of
akbabtu, “I loved.” (That points to the favorite mystical hadzth qudsi according to
which God said: “I was a hidden treasure, and 1 wanted [ahbahtu] to be known,
therefore 1 created the world.”)

153. There are numerous collections of Panjabi siharfis; R. Siraj ud-Din and
Walter, “An Indian Sufi Hymn”; for Sindhi see B a loch, ed., Tik akharyuh; a fine
Persian Golden Alphabet in honor of c Ali by the sixteenth-century poet Qasim-i
Kahi, in Hadi Hasan, "Qasim-i Kahl,“ pp, 186-89; for the whole genre see Schim-
mel. As Through a Veil , p. 147, and pp, 263-64, n, 56, For Pashto see Raverty,
Selections from the Poetry of the Afghans, pp, 61 ft.; Blumhardt-MacKenzie, Catalogue
of Pashto Manuscripts , nos, 22, 39.

154. For Malayalam see K. A, Paniker, “Mystical Strain in Medieval Malayalam
Poetry,” about the Ru hy Alif by Qadi Muhammad of Calicut, written in 1607.

155. For Swahili see Knappert, Swahili Religious Poetry; Werner, "An Alphabetic
Acrostic in a Northern Dialect of Swahili,

156. For medieval Turkish see Zaj^czkovsky, Q Asiq Pasa.

157. Bertholet, Die Mttdti der Schrift, p. 35 ? for the problem of “steganography.”
The best example in the Islamic tradition is in Goldziher, “Linguistic hes aus der
Literatur der muhammedanischen Mystik,” about the balaybalan language and
based on this, Bausani, “About a Curious Mystical Language.”

158. Hammer, Ancient Alphabets. A modern translation in Sylvain Matton, La
magie Arabe traditionelle, pp. 130-241; see also Casanova, "Alphabets Magiques Ar-
abes”; H. A. Winkler, Siegel und Char akt ere in der muhammedanischen Zauberei

159. El, s.v. hurufiyya, vol. Ill, pp. 600-601; Huart, Les Houroufi; Ritter, "Die
Anfange der Hurufl-Sekte”; Birge, The Be khtski Order of Dervishes, pp. 148 If.; Gibb,
History of Ottoman Poetry, vol* I (texts in vol. VI), concerning Nesimi,

160. El, vol. Ill, p. 600.

161. Huart, Houroufis, mainly pp. 11, 63, 64, 284 ff.

162. Gibb, History of Ottoman Poetry, vol. VI, p, 41.

163. Huart, Houroufis, the end of Fad In Mali's Hiddyatndma. Bad a’ uni, Muntak-
hab , vol. Ill, p- 285 (transl. Ill), p. 205 (text), tells that one Tashbihi of Kashan
dedicated to Abul-Fazl a treatise “after the manner of the Nuqtavi sect and their
manner of writing the letters.” According to the El, s.v. huruft, the nuqtamyya are
the Hurufis; but Bad a 1 uni’s description does not square with other information
about this sect. It may have been a later development of the Hurufi tradition.

164. Nyberg, Kleiner e Stkriflen des I bn al-Arabi, p. 99.

165. Gibb, History of Ottoman Poetry, vol. VI, p. 38.

166. c Attar, Divan, ghazal no, 686:

196

No one has seen sent clown {tanzil} from the mmlmf [Koran copy] of beauty
a wondrous sign {aya, also verse of the Koran) fresher than your khatt (“script/down")

167. Gf. Fuzuli, Ditmn, nos. GCXGI, CXLV.

168. Rami, Ants el-ockchaq f p, 44.

169. Ibid,, p. 41; TO, p, 175,

170. Qam c , Maqaldt ask-$tm c am f p. 44.

17 L Quoted in Fakhri Haravi, Raudat as-saUitin, p. 85. Cf. Gandjei, H Canzon-
iere de Sail Ismd Hi

172. Dard, c Ilm ul-kitdb f p. 561; see SchimmeL Pain and Grace r p. 77.

173. Fuzuli, Divan f no. CCLXV.

174. Amir Khusrau, Dwan f no. 587; cf. no. 1083,

175. Ibid., no. 69; cf. c Abdallah Marvarid in Qati c i, Majma Q al-shu'ard, p. 55.

176. Amir Khu&rau , Divan, no. 1407; cf. Safadi, Al-ghayth al~musajjam t p. 78:

The ydsin of her tresses and the jad of her eyes:
verily I seek refuge in Sura 4 aha!

Both Ydsin and Sad are beginnings of Koranic sura; i.e., 36 and 38, respectively. A
calligraphy of Sultan-Mu ha mm ad Nur in the Metropolitan Museum contains re-
lated images:

Everyone who saw die Sural al-fdtiha of your face.

Recited “Say: God is One!” [(Sura 1 12)j and blew with
sincerity [i.e,, blowing for warding of f evil
and for magical purposes; sincerity, ikhlds,
is the name of Sura 1 12]

“God made sprout a beautiful plant", [(Sura 3/37)] thus recited Khidr
and went away

the moment that he saw the greenery (i.e,, the down) around
your face.

How could one say: “May God increase your beauty!”

for there is no possibility of adding to your joy-increasing beauty.

177. Amir Khusrau, Divan, no. 317.

178. Sana 1 !, Divan, p. 34; Sctiimmel, As Through a Veil, pp. 190-92.

179. Khaqani t Divan, qasida, p, 326,

180. Azad Bilgrami, Khizdna-i c dmira, p, 278.

181. Rosenthal, Four Essays, p. 27 ,

182. Ibid,, p. 28,

183. Baltacloglii, Tiirklerde yazi sanutz, especially Bdlum V, and figures pp. 91-
92.

184. Grohmann, “Anthropomorphic and Zoomorphic Letters”; Grohmann, “Die
Bronzeschale M 388-1911”; Ettinghausen, “The Wade Cup." Examples in Schin>
me I, Islamic Calligraphy, pi. XVIII a-c; Safadi, Islamic Calligraphy, pis. 154-57.

197

185. QA, p, 133, Bayani, no. 826, Babur, in the Bdburndme, mentions this inven-
tion as well.

186. c Andallbj Nala-i c Andalib, voL II, p. 844.

187. Aksel, Turklerde dim resimier, p. Ill; cf. also the remarks of W. Born,
"Ivory Powder Flasks,” p< 102, about u fug hr as as amulets/ 1 Horovitz, in the Epigra-
phica Indo-Moslemka, voL II, p, 35, mentions that illiterate people, especially in
Bengal, regard stones with Arabic inscriptions, particularly in tughrd style, as sa-
cred, and pour oil and milk over them.

188. For such an interpretation see Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions, pp, 307-9.

189. Sana% Divan, pp, 39 ff.

190. Schimmel, Triumphal Sun, '‘Imagery of Animals ” pp. 1 19-22.

191. SH, p. 16, The most famous stork made of the basmala was written by the
Mevlevi Dervish Leylek Dede, “Grandfather Stork.” See Aksel, Turklerde Dim Re-
simier , pp, 76-77.

192. A beautiful example of a rooster, written by a Bahai calligrapher, in the
Fogg Art Museum; see Schimmel, Islamic Calligraphy, pi. XI AT; A. Welch, Callig-
raphy, no. 71.

193. The swan — philologically, it should rather be the goose, hdns — is found on
the publications of the Bawa Muhayiuddin group. This bird plays a great role in
Indian traditions, in the Islamic literatures particularly in Sind hi mystical folk
poetry,

194. Khatibi and Sijelmasi, Splendour, pp. 132-33, Numerous other examples
can be found, An interesting lion from a Bektashi convent, created from a verse
by c Attar (Divan, p. 23, qa$ida no. 8) in 1210/1795, in the Staatliches Museum fur
Volkerkunde, Munich; see Schimmel, Islamic Calligraphy , pi. LX VII a.

195. A beautiful “Muhammadan Rose/’ containing the ninety-nine Most beau-
tiful names of God and the ninety-nine noble names of the Prophet, in the Staats-
bibliothek, Berlin; published in Schimmel, Und Muhammad ist Sein Prophet , pi, I.

196. Nwyia, Exegese coranique el language mystique, pp, 363-67.

197. Rumi, Mathnauti, vol. Ill, l. 1267.

198. Ibid., Often thus and similarly in Sana'i, see Divan, pp. 94, 337, and Ha-
dlqa t p, 333; see also Ruzbihan Baqli, Shark-i Shathiydt, para. 48. — Rumi has ex-
plained Lhe meaning of the letters of c i$hq (love): c ayn is c dbid (worshiper), shin is
shdkir (grateful), and. qaj qani z (content)^ Divan , rubdH no 1047; Rumi, Divan , no.
1 187; cf, Schimmel, Dance of Sparks, p, 135, n. 30,

199. Nizami, quoted in Jami, Nafahdi al-uns, p. 608.

200. Yunus Emre, Divan , p. 204, Cf, also c Attar, Muyibatndma, p, 13: Throw
away the h and discard the w [of hu, “He”], become a servant and remember Him
without h and w.

201. Cf. Rumi, Medknawi, vol. VI, L 2972.

202. Ibid., vol L i. L 14.

198

CHAPTER FOUR

1. Amir Khusrau* Divan, no. 100.

2. See* for instance. Hammer, Berickt iiber den Kommentar des Mesnexvi, p. 89.

3. Ghalib, Urdu Divan, nun no. 23.

4. This joke is found already in Fuzuli’s verse, and quoted again in TH, p, 616.

5. Hamza al- Isfahan!, At-tanbih, pp. 33—47, He tells the story of the Omayyad
caliph Suiayman ibn L Abdul -Malik’s order to the governor ol Medina: "Ah$i'Umu-
khannathm (“count the passive pederasts!”). Bui a drop of ink fell on the A, chang-
ing it into kh, so that the governor read: Ikh$i 1-mukkannathin {** Castrate the peder-
asts'). Hearing that, some ran away while others underwent the operation without
complaint. Mustaqimzade, TH , p. 615, mentions an even odder instance by claim-
ing that the whole Christian faith relies upon a misreading: instead of the Divine
Word, “This is My prophet," (nabiyyi), the Christians read “My son” (bunayyi)

C r** - and thus, by the mere exchange of two dots, the erroneous doctrine of Christ
being God’s son was developed.

6. Hamza aU Isfahan!* At-tanbih, p. 34.

7. Qalqashandi* §uhh at-aAskd, vol. Ill, p. 18,

8. Kalim, Divan, muqatta^ no. 72.

9. Hoenerbach, Die dickterischen Vergleiche, p, 199,

10. Ibid,, p. 294, The comparison of lines of writing to necklaces seems to be
common in medieval Andalusia, see ibid,, 201. Compare also TH , p. 590:

When he takes the paper you imagine his tight hand
to shed light or string pearls,

IT TH, p. 651, The pun is on huff which means both “hand* palm'' and
“foam”— hence the common connection of the generous hand with the ocean,

12. Azad, KhizdnaA %mira, p. 288.

13. Ibid.* p, 2 16*

14. Ibid,* p, 19.

15. Thus Abu’l-Husayn ibn Abil-Baghl al-Katib in Khalidiyan * Kitdb at-tuhaf, p.
38.

16. Qalqashandi, §ubh al-aHhii, vol. HI* p. 37; cf. Giese, Kusdgim* pp. 109-10*
the descriptions of pens; further Khalidiyan* Kitdb at-tuhaf, p. 241: “A mute one
that speaks in the country.”

17. Ibn al-Mu c tazz, Diwdn , no. 1 18, p. 89,

18. Bada’uni, Muntakhab, III, p. 439 (transL).

19. Anvari* Divan, qa§ida, p. 199. Cf. also Giese, Kusdgim, p, 109: “But while
real swords are saturated with blood only at certain times* the swords of the writ-
ers never dry up.” Ibn ar-Rumi, quoted in Ibn Abi c Awn, Kitdb at-tashbihdt, pp.
305-6, also claimed that the pen is to be more feared than the sword.

20. Hoenerbach, Die dichteriscken Vergleiche, p. 178,

21. Busin, Al-burda, 1. 140.

199

22. Amir Khusrau, Divan, no. 283; Shah c Abdul Latif , Ris&lo, Sur Yam an Kal-
yan, V, 28.

23. Giese, Kusdgim, pp. 223-24; there are also more comparisons with writing
utensils, Cf. Ibn Abi c Awn, Kitdb at-tashbihdt, pp. 303-6 t chap, 87.

24. Ritter, Uber die Bddersprache Nizamis f p. 37.

25. Fuzuli, Divan t no. LXXIV.

26. Rosenthal, Four Essays, p. 36.

27. Ibn al-Mu c tazz, quoted in Schwertfeger, Kitdb az-zakr al-maqpuf, p, 105,

28. Hoenerbaeh, Die duhterischen Vergleiche, p. 200.

29. Na’ili, in Gibb, History of Ottoman Poetry , voL VI, pp. 213 f,

30. Nizami, hkandamdma t in Khamsa, p. 1012.

31. Giese, Kusdgim, p. 67.

32. Rhaqani, Divan , qastda, p. 299,qa$ida, p. 233,

33. Ibid., Divan, p, 758,

34. Amir Khusrau, Divan, no. 1546,

35. Massoudy, CaUigraphie Arabe vivante > p. 14, quoted from Aragon, “Le Fou
d^Elsa.’’

36. Pope, A Survey of Persian Art, p, 1730,

37. Rosenthal, Four Essays, pp, 29-30.

38. TH and Habib give numerous examples for calligraphers being musicians,
based on them, see, e.%. f Hwrt t pp. 132, 139, 155, 181, 183, 251, 277, 291, 298;
SH } pp. 39, 73, 78, 81, 204, 312, 332, 427; Bayani t no. 771; and many more. For
c Abdul Mu’min al-Isfahani (d. 646/1248), allegedly a disciple of Ibn al-Bawwab,
who excelled as calligrapher and musician, seeHuart, p. 83; Habib, p. 50, But there
is a gap of 200 years between him and Ibn al-Bawwab.

39. Bayani, no. 494, a line from Mir- c Ali f s most famous complaining poem,
written in Bukhara.

40. Daulatshah, Tadhkirat, p. 545.

41. Anvari, Divan „ qastda, p. 58. Cf. also Ghalib, who says with an allusion to
the beginning of Rumfs Mathnawi, the so-called Song of the Reed:

The sound of my pen burnt the world —

I am Ghalib, who has cast fire from the Song of the Reed into the reedbed,

42. Hoenerbaeh,, Die diehterhchen Vergleiohe t p. 199, see also p, 200.

43. See Hamza al- Isfahan!, At-tanbtk, p. 100,

44. Rosenthal, Four Essays „ pp. 45-46.

45. Hoenerbaeh, Die dichteriscken Verglekhe, p, 52; cf. ibid., p. 36: the cloud
should water the meadows “until you regard Lhe puddles as the circular signs for
denoting every tenth verse in a copy oi the Koran, and consider the traces of rain
in the fields to be vowel signs or letters.” See also ibid, p. 44 n. 171. Kushajim
has devoted a whole poem to the sections of the Koran where he finds “greenery
in the empty spaces of yellow and red, in the midst of those lines, similarly to
what the crawling of diminutive ants leaves on the fresh complexion of tender
girls,” Giese, Kusdgim, pp. 228-30.

200

46. Munir Labor i in Aslah, Sku c ard-i Kashmir, 5^ III, p. 1466. Cf. also Fani,
Divan, p. 42, for images from the garden for calligraphy.

47. There are many more examples. For riddles about the reedpen see Weis-
weiler, Arabische Mdrchen, vol. II, no. 98, pp. 243-45; quotations from Ihshihi,
Al-Mustapraf, vol. II, pp. 184-85, and l bn c Abd Rabbi hi * Al-Hqd al-farid, vol. IV,
p. 474.

48. Giese , Kusdgim, p. 175.

49. Hoenerbach, Die dickterischen Verglekhe, p, 202.

50. For a variant of this widespread image see TH, p. 132: the pen is a bird
that puts its beak into the darkness and then sprinkles Water of Life upon the
page.

51. Aslah, Shu c ard-yi Kashmir, S , III, p> 1436.

52. Thus also Kabir, quoted in Vaudeville, Kabir f vol. I, p. 8:

Je brulerai ce corps pour en faire de l'encre et pour
ecu ire le Nom de Ram.

de rues os, je feral lit plume pour ecrire la lettre que
j'enverrai a Ram.

53. Ghalib, Kulliyat-i Farsi, vol. IV, no. 209.

54. Giese, Kusdgim, p. 18 +

55. Mesihi, quoted in Kb priilu, Eski jairleriimz, p. 116.

56. Suli, Adah al-kuttdb, quoted in Wagner, Aim Nuw&s, p. 326.

57. Krenkow, “The Use of Writing for the Preservation of Ancient Arabic Po-
etry,” p, 265.

58. Ibid., pp. 264-66, for instance, al-Harith ibn Hilliza; Frey tag, Darstellung
der arabischen Verskunst, pp. 207, 251; Daudpota, The Influence of Arabic Poetry rm
Persian Poetry, pp. 40^4 1; Ibn Abi c Awn, Kitdb at-tashhihdt, p. 167: like signs drawn
by a pen on leather (aLMuraqqish) or “remnants of Divine inspirations on the
text page” (Dhu-r-Rumma).

59. Lichtenstadter, u Das Nasib der altarabischen qa$ida” p. 31, gives the various
comparisons of the deserted camps to writing material.

60. Minuchihri, quoted in DaudpOta, The Influence of Arabic Poetry, p. 40.

61. Ibn al-Mu tazz, Ditodn, vol. Ill, p. 118.

62. TH, p, 600.

63. Al-Biruni-Sachau, Alberum’s India, p. 90,

64. Khaqani, Divan, qasida, p, 136,

65. Fuzuli, Divan, no. CCLV, 5,

66. Kalim, Divan, ghazal, p. 62,

67. Aslah, Shu c ara-yi Kashmir, S, III, p, 1327.

68. Ibid,, p, 569, cf. ibid., 5, I, p. 239 (Danish).

69. Kalim, Mathnavl, Divan , p. 405.

70. Kalim, Divan, ed. T hacks ton, muqafta^, 24/28. Pictures of this type were
very fashionable and seem to have originated in the Deccan; see S. C. Welch,
Indian Drauings, nos. 34, 35,

201

71. Bedil.jDfMn (Bombay), p. 45.

72. Bedil, Kulliydt, vol. I, p. 605.

73. Bedd, Divan (Bombay), p. 188«

74. Schimmd, Dance of Sparks, pp. 121-22.

75. Rtimi, Matknawi y vol. Ill, I. 4755.

76. For the modi see Fenesch, “Una manera estrana d’escribir,” p. 212 (Abu
Ja c far ibn Khatima). Khaqani, Divan, p. 920:

The heart is like a pen in fire, and the body like paper in water —
the fire burnt it, and the water dissolved it.

A few examples: Amir Khusrau, Divan, nos. 402 , 832, 1088; Sa c di, Kulliydt: Gha-
zalvyydt, no, 351; Kami, Divan, ghazal no. 460; Rumi, Mathnaw, vol. VII (com-
mentary), a similar quotation from the Dwdn of Ahmad-i Jam; Furughi, Divan, p.
100; Ibrahim Tattawi, Takmila, pp. 10, 129. A Sufi saying by Abu C AI i ar-Rudh-
bari in Sarraj, Kitdb al-luma c , p. 249.

77. Bada’uni, Muntakkab, vol. III, p, 385 (fxansL), III, p. 280 (text).

78. Asiah, Shu c ard-yi Kashmir, p, 506,

79. Salman-i Savaji, in Azad, Khizdna-i c amira t p. 256.

80. Shibli, quoted in Sarraj, Kitdb al-luma c f p, 50; see also c Attar, Divan, ghazal,
p. 255; Sa c di, Kulliydt: Ghazaliyydt, p. 117:

The needle ol my eyelashes wr ites the story of my heart with red on the white page of
my face — there is no need to talk.

This is taken up by Jam i, Divan, p. 205, no, 189; cf. also ibid., p. 429, no, 671.

81. Ibrahim Tattawi, Takmifa, p. 12,

82. Amir Khusrau, Drum, no. 183.

83. Schimm el , Dance of Sparks, p. 121; for more examples, ibid., pp. 133-34, n f
23.

84. Ibid., p, 120.

85. Qddi Qddanjo kaldm , no. 42.

86. Wagner, Abu Ntiw&s, p. 381,

87. Giese t Kus&giw, p. 51 (Diwdn of Kushajim no, 45),

88. Khaqani, Divan, p, 633.

89. As! ah, Shu c arti-yi Kaskmtr, S, IV, p. 1702,

90. Kalim, Divan, ed. Thackston; cf. also hi sghazal no. 419, B edil f Dwdn (Bom-
bay), p, 188, uses on the page “a ruler from the wave of the e Anqa , s wing “ that
is, he does something absolutely impossible, for the mythical c Anqa has only a
name but not real existence.

91. Kalim, Divan, ed, Thackston, qa$ida 36/29.

92 . I bid * , ta rkibband, 6/6 .

93. Kalim, Divan, ghazal no, 316.

94. Khaqani, Divan, qa$ida y p. 35; quoted also in TH , p. 623 .

95. Naziri, Divan , ghazal no. 458,

96. Kdprulu, E$ki $airleriimz, p. 467.

202

97. Qalqashandi, Subk al-a Q $hd\ vol. Ill, p. I 3.

98. Azad , Khizdna-i z dmra t p. 216.

99. Al-Washsha 1 , Kitdb al-muwashshd, p. 155; pp, 154-59 contain a chapter on
poetry written by the elegant people concerning love letters.

100. Tha e aiibi, quoted in 0 nvcr-Athari, Ibn al-Bawwdh, p. 65.

101. MH, p. 18.

102. 0 nver-Athari, Ibn at-Bawwab, p, 72,

103. Rumi, Divan, no, 2205.

104. Btiyani, p. 69. For a verse w ith a nice double entendre see R tick e rt- Per tsch,
Gramm atik, Paetik und Rketorik, p. 284;

A single letter of your khatt would be worth a hundred mines of ruby,
whether Ibn Muqla would buy it or Yaqut.

CL also Kalim, Divan, ed- Thackston, muqajta c , p, 71,

105. Daulatshah, Tadhkirai, p. 359, trans. Hammer, Geschuhte ier schimen Rede-
kiinsie, p. 277 (he could not understand the pun on Sayraft because the history of
calligraphy was then still unknown in the West).

106. Habib, p. 158.

107. Rami t Anis d-ochchdq, p. 26,

108. Jami, Divan, p. 1 38 , ghaml no. 15.

109. Aslah, Shu 'ara-yi Kashmir, p. 365.

110. Hamza al-Isfahani, Atdanbth, p, 100.

111. Amir Khusrau, Divan, no. 1271,

112. Ibid., no, 1509,

113. Aslah, ShtPard-yi Kashmir, S, I, p. 303.

114. Amir Khusrau, Dwdn, no. 1 104, so also no. 1086 with the continuing rhyme
word khatt.

115. Ibid., no. 1474; cf, also ibid., no. 916.

1 16. Ibid., no. 107.

1 17. c Attar, Div&n f ghaml, p, 301.

1 18. Bu c All Qalandar, Divan, fob 6, quoted in Tafhimi, “The Life and Work
of Bu c All Qalandar,’ 1 ' Ph.D. dissertation, Karachi University, 1975, p. 392.

119. Jami, Divan, p. 884. Bui cf. also Amir Khusrau’s charming lines, Divan,
no. 642:

Like a child, the violet reads constantly the alphabet of greenery;
it has become old, and its heart turns toward youth.

"The alphabet of greenery" points to the khatPi sabz, the “green” fresh down of
the young beloved.

120. [ami. Divan, no. 147, p. 189,

121. Ibid., no. 637, p. 416.

122. Aslah, Shunrd-yi Kashmir, S, 1, p, 113*

123. Quoted in Qani c , Maqdldt ash-shtPard, p, 412,

124. Fu/uli, Divan, no. CXLV1II; cf, Amir Khusrau, Divan, no. 1086:

203

O Lord, how beautifully has the hand of creation written with the pen of Destiny the
kkaU on the page [of the check] of the friend.

125. TH, p. 407.

126. Ahmad Pasha* quoted in Gibb, History of Ottoman Poetry f vol. VI, p. 56.

127. Amir Khusrau, Divan, no, 1500.

128. TH, p. 300. This awkward verse was apparently admired by Turkish read-
ers * for Habib, p. 145, repeats it.

129. Mirza Qalich Beg, quoted in Mihrdn jd moti \ p. 72,

130. Aslah ,$ktPard-yi Kashmir, p. 610.

131. Gibb, History of Ottoman Poetry, vol. VI, p, 102,

132. Roprulij, Eski ^airlerimiz, p. 97.

133. Fuzuli, Divan t no. GCXL.

134. I bit ar-Rawandi* Rabat a$-<>udur t p. 44,

155. Hoenerbach , Die dickterischen Vergle&he, p, 199,

136. Ibid., p, 222.

137. Aslah, Sku^ard-yi Kashmir, p. 557,

138. In the story of c Aziz and c Aziza, 1 13th night.

139. SH, p. 360, about Sami Efendi (1837-1912).

140. Hoenerbach, Die dkhlerischen Vergleiche, p. 200,

141. Fuzuli, Divan, no. GCLV.

142. Thus TH t p. 139, about the fatal illness of the physician Ibn al-Quff (d.
685/1286), who was also a calligrapher, “He became [thin] like a Kufic alif*' and
decorated all over with reddish and green dots,

143. Safadi, Al-ghayth aDmusajjam } p, 77.

144. H oen e r bach , Die di cktemchen Verglekhe t p . 142,

145. B altadogl u , Tiirklerde yazi sanatt, p, 51.

146. Qati c i, Majma c al-sfm c ard f p. 55.

147. Rami, Ants el-ochckdq , p. 83.

148. Ibn al-Mu c tazz, Dhvan, vol. Ill, p. 110. One may also think of Necatfs
Turkish qa$ida with the recurring word “violet' 1 in which he claims:

The violet's hand trembles so that it cannot write a straight alif-
perhaps it has been in the street of the wine-sellers?

Koprulii, Esfd $airterimiz f p. 273.

149. Fuzuli, Divan, no. CGXlJ.

150. Rada’uni, Muntakhab, vol. 11 1, p. 257 (transl.). III, p* 184 (text).

15 L Ibidi, III, p. 471 (transl), III, p. 342 {text).

152. Aslah, Shu c ard-yi Kashmir, p. 593,

_ -*■

153. Karacaoglan, ed, Cahit Oztclli, no. 15.

154. Fuzuli, Divan, no. XXIX. Cf. also the poem by the Arabic calligrapher Ibn
Khazin, quoted in MH, p, 79, and Habib, p, 48, where the “purity” of the alif
incites the writer to some negative remarks about the crookedness of the time:
someone who remains upright like an alif has no luck, just as the alif has no share
in the dots, while die crooked nun possesses a dot.

204

155. Khaqani, Divan* p. 1 19. lie has also a very line grammatical pun on fa c n
and a{a c nd, which, however, is meaningf ul only when one knows Arabic grammar,
and thus cannot be properly translated without a long commentary.

156. c Attar, IldMndma, chap, XIV, story 5.

157. Khaqani, Divan, p, 898+

158. Fuzuli, Divan, no. CCLV. A dot on the dal would transform it into a dhal

159. Jams, no, 75, p. 161.

160. Yahya Bey, Shah u geda* quoted in Kdprulu, Eski sairlerimiz, p, 148,

161. Thus, for instance, Idraki Beglari in Sind (see Appendix B).

162. Amir Khusrau, Divan* no. 1152,

165. Wagner, Abu Nuwds* p. 389.

164, Ihn Ahi c Awn, Kiidh at-lashhih&t t p. 251,

165, Quoted in Rami, Anfa d-ochckaq, p+ 65,

166, Kalim, Divdn, mathnam, p+339.

167, Eski ^ air Urim iz f p. 296; cf, also Safadi, Al-ghayth al-musajjam* p. 77.

168, R ticker t -Pert sch T Grammatik, Poetik und Rhetorik, p. 241.

169, [ami, Divdn, no. 357, p, 309,

170, Yunus Emre, Divan, p, 426.

171, Ihn ar-Riiwandi, R&hat m-siidur t p. 442.

172+ Qalich Beg, in Mihrdnjd matt, p, 66.

173, Sana’ij Divdn* p. 763.

174, ll>n al-Mu^iazz, Diwm f vol. Ill, p. 61 . Cf. Kushajim: a curl tike a qaf (made)
of night on a daylike complexion, in Giese, Kukdgim, p. 85, Also Ibn Ahi 'Awn,
Kitdh at-ta$hbikat* p. 250.

175, Schimmel, Dance of Sparks* p. 125.

176, Sanal, Had$qa t chap. IX, p. 666, Rumi, Divdn * no, 2752-

177, Rumi, Matknmm* vol. VI, 1. 1650.

178, Hoenerbach , Die dkhtermken Vergleiche, p. 169,

179, Ibn al-Mii c tazz, Diwdn, vol, III, p. 85,

180, Wagner, A bu Nuwds, pp. 288, 397; he also compared the spider to the dot
beneath the initial jim.

181, Rami, An£$ d-mhehdq, p, 26. cf. also p. 52.

182, Hoenerbach, Die dickterischen Vergleiche * p. 201; Ibn aFMuTa/.z, quoted in
Ihn Abi c Awn, Kitdb at-taskbih&E p 253, sees the mustache as Haifa sad and a dal
and the sidelock as a nun.

183, Cf. Hoenerbach, Die dichterischen Vergleiche, p, 10, n, 17; Khaqani, Divdn,
qa$idu, p, 261, gives this image an elegant turn, playing with the beginning of Sura
68 ;

The [new] moon and the fingertips of the people [pointing to it:] these arc like a pen,
and that one

[ie,, the crescent moon] like a nun —

people are happy like children [who have recently learned the sura] Nun wal-qalcm,

for when the new moon of Shawwal appears, the month ot fasting is over, and
everyone rejoices.

205

184. Sana*!, Hadiqa, p. 524.

I S3* Aksd, Tilrhlerde dim resimler, pp. 135-38,

186* Jami, Divan y no. 357, p. 307.

1 87, I bn al-Mu c ta2 z t Diwan, vol. Hi, p, 8,

188* Wagner, Abu Nuum, p. 303*

189. GAL S } III, p. 35, where also other examples of letter imagery in classical
Arabic are mentioned,

190. Krenkow, “The Use of Writing for the Preservation of Ancient Arabic
Poetry,” p, 265.

191. Wagner* Abii Nuwas, p. 380.

192. TH f p. 636.

193. Qddi Qadan jo kaldm, no. 8; Shah c Abdul Latif, Ris&lo, Yaman Kalyan, V,
31, Ibn c Arabi, in the Tarjumdn al-ashwaq, poem no. LII1, 1, compares the lovers
in embrace to a doubled letter, harfan mushaddudan.

194. Asaf Halet £elebi, Ldm-alif ,

195. Rosenthal, Four Essays, p. 57.

196. Hoenerbach, Die dicktemschen Verghiche } p. 10.

197. Rosenthal, Four Essays, p. 57; see also Safadi, Al-ghaytk al-musajjam , p, 77,
for two examples of such a na c am.

198* Jami, Divan, p, 499, no. 853*

199. Cf. Khaq an i^ Dwdn, p. 260,

200. Schimmel, Dance of Sparks, p, 126,

201. Sana'i, Divan, p. 549; see also pp. 143 and 628.

202. Wagner, Abu Nuw&s, pp. 380-83, usually obscene changes of meaning. See
also the numerous examples in Hamza alTsfahani, At-tanlnh f pp, 252 ff. For the
Persian area, Rucker t-Pertsch, Grammatik, Poetik und Rhetonk, gives many interest-
ing examples. The art of riddles, in which pons by change of letters are most
common, was highly appreciated in the fifteenth and the early sixteenth century,
so that almost every poet composed a collection of complicated riddles.

203. The school scene from Nizami's Majnun u Layla forms a major subject for
miniature painters in late Timurid and Safavid Iran.

204. Ghalib Dede, Hiisn u a$k, 11. 393-97,

205. ] a mi , T uhfat al-ahrar, i r i Haft A urang, p * 440/ Fhe ve r se w as al lead y t r a n si ated
by Hammer, Geschickte der schbnen Redekiimte, p. 322, and is quoted by £. G.
Browne, A Literary History of Persia, vol. Ill, p. 533. Similar is Ha till, translated by
Hammer, ibid., p. 358,

206. Suyutfs skillful verse is quoted in TH , p. 6I9 t and following it, Habib, pp,
25-26; unfortunately* it loses all its charm in a translation that of necessity would
have to be heavily annotated. Habib, pp. 25-26* quotes more Turkish poems of
this kind, as he loves to refer to poetical utterances that use the terminology of
calligraphy. See also TH t pp. 254-55.

207. c Attar, ghazal no* 629*

298, Hafiz, Divan, only in Rosenzweig-Schwannau, vol. Ill, p. 532.

209. SH , p. 267,

206

210. Aslah, Shu c ara-yi Kashmir , S, II, p. 744.

21 L A slab, Shu c ard-yi Kashmir, p. 97.

212. Ibid., S, II, p. 738,

213. Rami, Azats el-ochchdq, p. 44. Of. Amir K Inman, Divan, no, 108, and simi-
larly the verse quoted by Habib, p. 188:

Your kkatt is dust, ghufmr, sitting on that Up—

well, the script of Yaqut [or: the ruby script, "ruby” denoting the red mouth j has to be
seated

(he., given a high place; “seating” in calligraphy means to arrange the script in an
artistic way),

214. Hafiz, Divan , ed. Rosenzweig-Schwannau, voL II, p. 250, edition Nabni-
Ahmad, p. 344, no. 9.

215. Divan, ed. Thackston, mathnavi 19/28.

216. Bedil ^Kulliydt, vol. I, p. 705.

217. Fani, Divan, p, 62. This is the first example of skikasta in poetry known to
me,

218. Baqi, quoted in Koprulu, Eski jairlerimiz, p, 306,

219. That a good calligraphy is worthy of being suspended {tadiq) from the sky
is commonplace with later Persian and Turkish poets,

220* Quoted in Fakhri, Raiyku as-sal&fin, p, 85; see chap. Ill, n, 171, A similar
verse by Mir c All Shir Nava’i, ibich, p. 1 10.

221. Qani c , Maqaiat ash-shu c ard, p, 19,

222. Thus Ghamzade in his mi c mjiyya, describing Lhe Prophet's ascension to
heaven, in Kbpriilu, Eski $airUrimiz, pp. 353, 356.

223. SH, p. 266.

224. Baqi, quoted in Koprtilu, Eski §tiirlerimiz, p. 273.

225. Thus ahKhwarizmi, quoted in Mez, Renaissance des Islam, p, 235.

226. Gibb, History of Ottoman Poetry , vol, VI, p, 56,

227. Sami aUBarudi, quoted in GAL S, III, p, 17,

228. Ibn Abi c Awn, Kitdb at-tashMhdt, p. 58,

229. Sana chap, VII, p. 457,

230. Bayam, p. 249, invented by a calligrapher, Muhammad Ibmbimi, a disci-
ple of Sultan- C Ali Mashhadi.

231. Daulatshah, Tadhfdmt, p. 378, concerning Sharafuddin Yazdi.

232. Fayzi, quoted in Ikram, Armaghan-i Pah, p. 193,

233. Aslah , Shu z ard-yi Kashmir, S f IV, p. 1736.

234. Sarmad, quoted in Ikram, Armaghdn-i Pdk, p. 239.

235. Fani, Divan, p. 144,

236. “Comprendre Flslam,” p, 67, quoted in Canteins, l,a Vote des Lettres, p. 76,
n, 2 1.

237. Khaqani, Divan, p. 209.

238. Ghalib, Kulliydt-i Farsi, vol IV, p. 264.

239. Kalim, Divan, p, 1 19, no. 80.

207

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231

Index
of Proper Names

In order to facilitate the identification we have added the dates, as
far as they were available. In many cases, conflicting statements are
found in different sources.

Irregularities in spelling are due to the different way of transcribing
Turkish and Persian words; we ask t lie readers’ indulgence* In
Turkish names, Me h met and Muhammad are interchangeable.

Aaron, 152

c Abbas the Great, Safavid king, v, 1588-
1629, 64, 65, 67, 68, 71, 167nl2
c Abbas II, Safavid king, r. 1642-1666,

c Abbas Hiltnl, Khedive of Egypt, r. 1 892—
1914, I74n94

c Abbasids, 750-1258, 13, 16, 21, 53, 62,
91, 92, 117
Abbott, Nabia, 3, 12

Abdal Musa, Turkish folk poet, sixteenth
century, 193ft98

'Abdallah, Sayyid, Turkish calligrapher, d.
1647, 187 ji271

c Abdallah Arghun, disciple of Yaqut, d.
1340,22,49

c Abdallah a$-$ayraf] T disciple of Yaqut, d,
1320, 22, 72, 129, 182*200, 196ftl52,
203?? 105

'Abdallah^ Ansari of Herat, Sufi, d. 1089,
60

c Abdallah-i Hatavi 1 abbakh (Aslipaz), “the
Cook/ 1 calligrapher, d. 1480, 52, 53, 69,
174?? 99, 183*230

4 Abdallah ibn Raw a ha, companion of the
Prophet, 19 In 49

c Abdallah ibn Sarahs calligrapher, d. 1121,
49

4 Abdallah Marvarid, calligrapher and au-
thor in Herat, <1. 1576, 134, 178*148,
182?? 195

4 Abdallah Qiiirni, calligrapher, d, 1591-2,
73, 188?? 281

c Abdallah Qutbshah, r, 1612-1672,

186ft 26 4

c Abdallah Shakann-Qalam, son of M1r- C AI]
Ta brizi , ca I li gra phe r , m id -ft 1 1 cen 1 1 1 ce n -
tury, 29

233

c Abdallah son of Mir- C All, decoupe master,
fl. ca. I500 t 55

c Afxiul-A4ziz, Ottoman sultan , i\ 1861-
1876, I78ftl52

c Alxlul-Aziz ibn c L'bayd Khan, Shaybanid
ruler, r. 1540-1 549 * 52
c Abdul-tjamld, Ottoman sultan, r. 1876-
1909, 75

c AbduMaUl Bilgrimh Indian author, d.
1725, 131

£ Abdul- Karim, calligrapher, mid- fifteenth
century, 178)4 154

c Abdul- Karim al- Jiti, Sufi, d. cat, 1408, 47,
173)489, 194ft 117, 195ft 141
£ Abdul-LatTf, Shah Bhita’l, Slndhi Sufi, d
1752, 79, HO

c Abdul- Majid, Ottoman sultan, r. 1339-
1861, 75, 178ft 152

c Abdul-Majid, of Taliqan, calligrapher, d.
1773, 31

c Abdul-Malik ibn Marwin, Omayvad cal-
iph, i\ 685-705, 4, 12

c Abdul-Mu > min al-I$faham, calligrapher, d .
1248, 2 QOriM

c 'Abdu!-Mu L iT Ahi Parmaq, Turkish callig-
rapher, d. alter 1780, 177?; 135
c Abdul-Qadir GllanI, Sufi, d. 1 166, 37,

c Abdul-Qadi[ il>n c Abdul- Wahhab. 11. ca.
1400, 22

c Abdul-Wase-Saqib (Thaqib), Agha, Paki-
sta ni cn 1 1 i gra p I ier, 1 67 h 1 09
c Abdur-Rablm T Khankhanan, d. 1627, 67,
184ft 237, I 85ft 240

c A bd li r- R a him c A m ha nn-Qa la n j , ca 1 1 i g rii-
pher, d. after 1633, 67
c Abdur Rahman 111 of Cordova, r. 912-
961, 6

c Abdur-Rahman Ghubari, Qadi Khwaja,
calligrapher, d. 1566, 182ft2I0
c Abdur-Rahman ibn c Auf, companion of
the Prophet, d. ca, 652, I9lft49
£ Abdur- Rail man Khwarizmi, Maulana, cal-
ligrapher, d. after 1456, 29
c Abdur- Rashid Day I a ml ** Rashida,” calligra-
pher, d. 1647, 38, 50, 68
£ Abdur-Ra uf of Singket, Sufi, d. after
1693, 89

c Abdus-Samad, painter, d. after 1586,
165«78

Abraham, 151

Abu £ Abdallah Muhammad ibn Shaqq al-
lay 1, d, 1062, 166^88
Abu c Abdur-Razzaq ibn al-Fuwatl as-Sa-
btini, d. 1328, 179w 165
Abu c Alt al-Hasan ibn Wahb al-Hanlhi,
172ft 79

Abu G Alt ar-Rudhbarl, Sufi, d. 932, 2G2 m 76
Abu Bakr c Abdur- Rahman al-Miknasi, <1.
1196, 166ft 88

Abu Raki as-Siddiq, first caliph, r. 632-
634, 82, 19ln49; connected with middle
finger, 198n32

Abu Hanifa Nu c man, jurist, d. 767, 1 69ft 4 1
Abu Hay van at-Taufiidl, author, d, 1023,

3, 19, 23, 120, 121, 1 68?) 28
Abu ja c far Ahmad ibn Ibrahim, d. 1307-8,

166ft 88

Abu ja c f'ar f.fassan aUHabibi at- An da hi si,
d. 134 i P 166 h 88

Abij jiff a r ibn Khatima, 202ft 76
Abu h L-Aswad ad-Dcfali, d. 688, 162 h 15
Abu'l-Fazl c All ami, A k bar's historian, d
1602, 67, 162ft 7, 1 96ft 163
Abu'l-Fida, lsma e it ibn c All, prince of
Hama, d. 1332, 62, 181ft 189
Abu’l-ijasan ad-Daylami, Sufi, late tenth
century, 101, 104

Abu 1- Hasan Muhammad at-Tabib, d,

1165, 1 66ft. 88

AbiVI-Husayn ibn AbH-Baghl al-Katib,

1 99ft 1 5

Abu t-Qasim as-Samarqandf Suli, tenth
century, 103

Abu Muhammad c Abdallah ibn c Alt ash-
Sharlshi, d, 1317, I66«88
Abu Nuwa.s, Arabic poet, d. ea. 813, 123,
126, 138, 140, 141, 163)i 41, 164ft 49
Abu c Omar Yusuf ibn Muhammad, d. 945,

166ft88

Abu Sand ibn Khudabanda, 1 1 khan ruler.

r. 1317-1335. 182 ft 200
Abu $a c !d ibn Timur, r. 1451-1469,

176ft 123

Abu Sulayman, Yahya al-Faythi, d, 708,
162ft 15

234

Abu Turab of Isfahan, Mir/a, calligrapher,
(L 1661-2, 46, 172ft74
Adam, 95* 105, 1 53-; letters of, 96, 104,

1 J 04

Adharbod* Persian calligrapher, 167*1 10
Ad bar i of Isfar a N in, poet, mid-fifteenth
century, 69

c Adil, a I- Malik al* Mahmud Ayyubl, d.

1 174, 62, 18 In 188

c AdihhahT dynasty of Bijapur, 1506-1686,
70

Adler, J. G. C,, eighteenth century, 2
Adudaddatila, Buwayhid, r. 949-983, 62
Afghanistan, 7, 9, 10, II
Africa: North, 8, 27: Western, 27, 29, 36,
85

Agra, 68; Fort 67, 184*234. See visa Taj
Mahal

Ahenm-Qalam* Suleyman, Turkish callig-
rapher, d. 17Q7, 169*35
Ahmad, heavenly name of Muhammad, 96,
97, 104, 154, 193*106
Ahmad 111, Ottoman sultan, r. 1703-1730,
74, 75, 188*291

Ahmad as-Suhrawardf disciple of Yiiqflt,
d. after 1318* 22, 7]

Ahmid-i Jam, Sufi, d. 1 141-2. 202*76
Ahmad ibn Abi kb a I id, see Ahwal
Ahmad ibn ahfhuna ill, d. 1337. 164*61
Ahmad ibn Ibban al-Andalusi* d, 991,

166 ? m

Ahmad ibn Uways Jala’ir, d. 1410-1, 63
Ahmad ibn Yasuf az-Zu c ayfarI, calligra-
pher, fh ca. 1400, 177*136
Ahmad of Mashhad, see Say yid- Ahmad
Ahmad Pasha, Turkish poet, d. 1496-7,

133, 145, 204*126

Ahmad Qarahisarl, Turkish calligrapher,
d. 1556, 72, 73, 175*105, 187*275,
188*277, *278

Ahmad Shah Wall, Bahmani ruler, r,
1422-1435, 69

Ahmad Sirhindl, Sufi reformer, d. 1624,

66, 97

Ahmad 1'ayyib Shah, calligrapher, early
fourteenth century, 22
Ahwal, Ahmad ibn Abi Khalid al- p calligra-
pher, d, 826, 13, 40, 53

Akbar, Moghul emperor, r. 1556-1605, 67.
84, 184*232; his court, 55, 56, 135,
183*228, 183*230; his court poets etc.,
146, 162*7, 165*78
Aleppo, 49, 119, 164*56
Alhambra, 19, 27, 86
c AlI, calligrapher of Eastern Kufi, H, ca.
1092, 163*23

c All al-Qari, Naqshbandi author, d. 1605,
57, 179*163

c All as-Siifi, calligrapher, d, 1478-9, 47, 69
c Ali Efendi, Mustaf a ibn Ahmad, Turkish
author, d, 1599* 49* 54, 73, 188*280
c Ali ibn Abl Talib, Murtaza, fourth caliph,
656-661 fu st imam of the Shia, 3, £9,

47, 59, 62, 82, 84* 96* 98, 103, 105*
168*13, 191*49, 196*153; Ids name* 12,
86, 102* 110, 111, 112, 1 63*34; con-
nected with the thumb, 190*32
c Ali ibn c Isa “the good vizier, *' d. 946, 16,
117

c All-Riza of Tabriz (Tabriz!), calligrapher,
d. after 1627, 65

c All Sang] Badakhshl, dtcoupe master, d.

after 1537, 55, 178*144
Amanullah of Afghanistan, r. 1919-1929,
174*94
Amasya, 71

Amir Ghayb Bek* Safari librarian, mid-six-
teenth century, 183*216
Amir Khusrau of Delhi, poet, d. 1325, 87,
98, 109, 1 1 5 h 120, 130, 131* 184*231,
191*53, 202*76, 203*119
c Amr (with a silent *>), 140
Amu I, 39

A n ado] u, Qa^fasker of, 51* 175*112
Anatolia* 10, 94, 108, 180*173
"Andalib, Nasir Muhammad, of Delhi* Sufi,
d. 1758, 99, 110

Andalusia, 125, 199*10; Andalusian, 16,
141; script* 27; poets 1 16, 121, 133, 134,
138

A nisi, Persian calligrapher, d. 1495,

178*154
Ankara, 190*30
c Anqa bird, 134, 202*90
Anvari, Auhaduddm, Persian poet, d, ca,

1 190, 60, 1 18

235

Aq Shamsuddin, Turkish Sufi, d. 1459*

174^93

Aqqoyunlu Turcomans, 63
Aqta c , c Omar al-* calligrapher, fL ca. 1400,
24* 54

A nib's, 26, 41; Arabic script letters, 1, 2, 4,
26* 27, 29, 3 J , 32, 33, 53, 81, 82, 83. 90,
93, 105, 106, 135, 154, 161 b 5, 1 7 J«6l,
190 b28, 198b 137* 2(>4«154; sources,
books, 3. 7, 38, 39* 51* 128* 160 b 5; lan-
guage, 9, 10, 28, 30, 102, 139, 166 b 100,
169b3£, 2G5bI 55; literature, poets, 26,
40, 47, 49, 55, 84 1 86, 1 16* I 18* 1 19,

123, 130, 136, 138, 145, 170b51, 174b95,
182b 195, 206b 189
Aragon* Louis, 120
Ar berry, Arthur J., 2, 105
Ardashir ibn Sabur* Bu way hid vizier, d.
1024, 19

Ardabil, 64, I67wl2
Arghun, tee c Abdallah
Argli Cm dynasty of Sind, r\ 1526-1555, 71
c Arii* Filtbeli Bakkal, (Baqqal) Turkish cal-
ligrapher* d. 1909, 53, 3 77 b 129
-Aril' BayezTd Purani of Herat, d. after
1500, 56

-Ariil, Persian poet, d, ca. 1449* 64
Asafuddaula, Navvwab of Oudh* r. 1 775-
1798, 70

al-mubashshara, a I, '‘the ten to whom
Paradise was promised*” 86
Ash pa z* see c Abdallah-4 Haravl
Ashraf Khan, Mir Munshi* calligrapher, IT
under Akbar, 67, 183 b 230
Ashrafuddln Mazandaram. calligrapher,
first half of the fifteenth century* 69
Ataturk* Mustafa Kemal, d. 1938, 48
c Ata\il1ah Qazvinl* Khwaja, sixteenth cen-
tury, 184 b230

t Anar, Fariduddln, *SuEi poet, d. ca. 1220,
88, 94, 97, 107, 111, 131, 135, 143,
I9Jn53, 198 b 194* 202n80
Aufiadl MaraghI* Persian poet d. 1337,

19 1b 53

Aurangzeb c Alamg!r, Moghul emperor* i\
1658-1707, 68, 186*250* 251: his
daughter* 47

Avicenna (Ibn-i Sina), philosopher, d.

1037, 37, 93
Aya Sofya, see Istanbul
AySz, beloved of Mahmud of Ghazni,

18 In 188

Ayverdi, Ekrem Hakki* 71: Samiha,

190*31

Ayyubids, r. 117 1—1250* 62
c Azazlt, name of Satan before his fall, 103
Azhar, al, in Cairo, 163*37
A/.barl of Herat, calligrapher, d. 1475* 52*
176n 123

c AzimJah Bahadur, Nawwab of Carnatic,
after 1800, I74b92

L AzIz Rifa c i, Turkish calligrapher, d. 1934*
48* 174*94

Baba Shah Isfahan!, calligrapher* d r 1603,

I 74b 9 9

Babur, Moghul emperor* r. 1526-1530, 66,
67, 69, 110, 109n 185

Bada uni, c Abdul-Qildir, historian, d, after
1610, 67, 84* JIB. 135, 1 96 b 1 63
Bad 1 c uzzaman Mirza, son of Husayn
Bayqara, d, 1517, 64

Badruddln Muhammad Tabriz!, son-in-law
of Mlr- c Ali Tabriz!* H. early fifteenth
centuiy* 15* 163*43

Baghdad, 21, 25, 46, 63, 68, 96, 117, 123,
145, 164 b 61, 170*52* 185n246: Baghda-
dian, 6, 27, 39

Bahadur Shah Zafar* Moghul emperor* r.

1837-1858, d. J862, 69
Bahai faith, I 98 b 192

Balia uddaula* Bit waylaid, r. 989-1012* 56
Bahmanids in the Deccan, 1347-ca. 1527,
69

Bahrain Mirza, son of Shah IsintTil* d.

1549, 30, 32, 65

BaladlmiT, Ahmad ibn Yahya al-, ca, 892,
172 b 80

Bakkal,^ c Arif

Balban* king of Delhi, r, 1266-1286, 66
Bdtadoglu, Ismayil HEikld, J 10, 134
Balyor* 128

Ba ndd u / , H ajj l M u ha m r n ad * call igra phe r ,
d. after 1300, 57

236

Bankipore, Khudabakhsh Library, 19 In 52
Baqh Turkish poet, d. 1600, 137, 144,
207 k 218, 207*224
Bagli, jff Ruzbihan
Basra, I62n l5
Bayard, MehdL 45, 60, 68
Baydfhvl, c Abdallah* theologian, T 1286 or
1298, 180«172

Bayezld 11, Ottoman sultan, r. 1481-1512,
71, 74, 187*271

Baysonghur Mirza, son of Shahrukh, son
of Timur, d. 1433, 25, 29, 54, 57, 60, 63
Bedil, Mirza c Abdul -Qadir, I ndo- Persian
poet, d. 1721, 31, 124 T 125, 144, 202*90
Bektashi order, 48, 108, 1 10, 111,

193nl06, 198*194

Bengal,26, I65n86, 190*28, 198*187;
Bengali, 81

Berlin: Staatliche Museen, 185*245; Staats-
bibliothek, 198*195
Eldar, 53, 69

Bibzad, painter, d, ca. 1536, 52, 64,

I76n 119

Bljapur, 26, 70, 71, 173*84, 186*251,
186*264

Bilgraml, see c Abdul-Jalil
Biruni, Abu Raihan al-, historian, d , 1048,
123

Bistaml, c Abdm -Rahman ibn Muljammad
al-. Sub, eighteenth century, 195*152
Bodleian Library, Oxford, 184*232,

185k 245
Bornu, 27, 29
Bosporus, 44, 140, 173*81
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 8, 178*144,
187a 271

Braham, Chandar-Bhan, Indian author, d.
1662, 68

B re y de nbat h „ Get m a n t icble m a n , f i ft ecu 1 1 1
century, 2

BO c All Qala ndar of Panipat, Sufi, d. 1321,
131

Buddhist, 83

Bukhara, 11, 52, 55, 68, 178*144*

181k 179, 20 On 39

Bukhari, Muhammad ibn lsma c il, al-, tra-
ditionalist, d. 870, 58, 177*135

Bulhc Shah, Panjabi Sufi, cL 1754, 165,
193*98

Bum, Ahmad Shamsuddin al-, f Egyptian
author on magic, d, 1225, 98
Bursa, 177* 134

Bus'u 1, Sharafuddin a!-, Arabic poet, dJ
1298, 59, 86, 118, 174*94, 180*173
Bu way bids (in Iraq), r. 945-1055, 19, 56,
62, 182k 193

Byzantium* 6: Byzantine, 6, 13

Cairo, 27,72, 178*136, 180nF73, 188*280
CanteinSt Jean t 98

Celebk Asaf Halet, Turkish poet, ch 1958,
139, 140

Central Asia, 6, 11, 31, 39, 138, 169*36
Ccylon/ese + 1J2

Chagatay, Dr. Abdallah, 183*217
Chaldiran, battle of, 64, I82n2I4
Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, 2, 19, 47,
164*62, 179n60, 180^173
China, 26, 41, 169*36: Chinese writing, 31
Chishti Sabir? order, 94, 149
Christian, 2, 82,83, 127, 132, 172*79.
199*5

Constantine VI L Porphyragenetos, r, 913-
959, 6

Co ns taut inople, 1 3 . S ee also Istanbul
Corbin, Henry, 93
Cordova, 4, 166*88

Damascus, 4, 170*52, 170*53
Danish, Kashmiri poet, seventeenth cen-
tury, 201*68

Dariyal, son of I.Iusayn Shah of Bengal, d,
alter 1500, 165*86

Dara-Shikoh, son of Sbahjahan, d. 1659,
68, 146, 185« 245

Dard, Khwaja Mir, son of LAndallb in
Delhi. Sufi, d. 1785, 108
Daulaishah, historian, d. ca. 1495, 63, 129,
180* 1 76
David, 152

Daylaml, see Ahu'l-Hasan
Deccan, 25, 26, 69, 70, 124, J44, 166k 106,
186k 264, 193*5 1 , J94*l24 T 201*70

237

Delhi, 10, 11, 37, 66, 87, 99, 108, IK),
185n239,n245, 186n254; Qutb Minar,

25; Quwwat ul-I.slam mosque, 25; Red
Fort, 137

Dervish c Abdl Mash had! Bukhari, calligra-
pher, cL 1647, 53

Dervish 5 Ali, calligrapher in Thatta, d.

after 1699, 166*100
Dervish c Ali, discipline of Erzemmlu,

1 urkish calligrapher, cl, 1673, 187*271
Dervish Mehmet, Turkish calligrapher, dis-
ciple of Qarahisarl, d. 1591, 188*277
Dhauqiyya-Chishtiyya order, 149
Dhu'r-riyasatayn, see al-Fadl
Dhffr-Ruinma, Arabic poet, d, 735-6,

20 In 58
Diogenes, 119
Divrigi, 180*173

Dost-Mufiammad, calligrapher and author t
d. 1565, 30* 65, 67, 173*82, 178*143,

1 83*217, 228, 230

Dost -Salman (Dost-1 Salman?}, calligrapher,
sixteenth century, 183*230

Edirne:Eski Carni, 101
Egypt/ian, 9, 12, 19, 24, 29, 33, 39, 41, 45,
48, 54, 140, 147, 167*1 10. 170*52,
174*94, 175* 110, 176*113; pen, 42;
banknotes, 56, 178*152; Sufi, 103; pro-
fessor, 143; tombstone, 7 2 m 4 1, See also
Mamin k

Erzcrumlii Khalid, Turkish calligrapher,
seventeenth century, 187*271
Es c ad Yesaii, Turkish calligrapher, d,
1798,53,175*111

Esina : lhrct Hanim, '['urkish calligrapher,
born 1780, 173*87
Ettinghausen, Richard. 10
Euphrates, 186*258
Europe, 2; European, 1 59; paper, 81;

writer, 120; "eyes/' 181*185
Eytip (Istanbul), 101

lad! ibn Sahi, al T DhiVr-nyasatayn, d. 818,
13

Fadlullah of Asterahad, Hurufi, d 1398,
106, 107, 196*163

Fakhii of Bursa, dicoupe master, eighteenth
century (?), 55

Fan! Kashmiri, Persian poet, d. 1670, 43,
144. 146, 201*46

f any, al-Malik an-Na^ir, Mainluk sultan, r.

1399, 1405, 1405-14 12, 15, 54
Farhad the stonecutter, 117
Farhad Pasha, Mehmet IPs son-in-law, cal-
ligrapher, d, 1576, 188*277
Fath- c Ali Shah Qajar, r\ J 797-1834, 66
Fatbpur, Sikrl, 67, 184*232
Fatima, daughter of the Prophet, d, 632,
92

Fapmids m Egypt, 969-1171, 39, 162*21;

fmiZy 8

see Y ally a Sibak

Fayzl, Akbar's court poet, d. 1593, 104,
146, 207*232

Fighani, Baba, Persian poet, d, 1519,
191*53

Findley, Carter, 175*109
Filibeli Bakkal,^ c Arif
Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachu-
setts, 162*17, 167*8, 169*36, 185*245,
191*51, 198*192

Fuad, king of Egypt, r. 1922-1936, 48
Furughi, Persian poet, d, 1857, 202*76
Fuzftli, Turkish poet, d, 1556, 109, 119,
124, 132, 133, 135, 199*4

Gabriel, 151; connected with idm, 91
Galatasaray (Istanbul), 169*40
Gallipoli, 73

Gauharshad, daughter of Mlr-Tmad, cal-
ligrapher, d. after 1620, 47
German, 2, 4

Ghalib, Mirza Asadiillah, of Delhi, poet, <f
1869, 79, 87, 115. 122, 125, 126, 137,
138, HI, 147, 191*53, 193*106, 200*41
Ghalib Dede, Shaykh, Turkish poet, d.
1799, 142

Ghamzade, Turkish poet, seventeenth cen-
tury, 207*222

Ghazanfar (surname of c All ibn Abi Talib),

112

Ghazni, 7, 11, 163*23; Ghaznavids, 10, 63,
66

Ghazzall, Abu Hamid ah, d. ill 1, 88
Ghazzall, Ahmad, Stili, d, 1 126, 103,
195*141

238

Ghortds, ID

Ghubari, see c Abdur-Rahman, Qasim
Ghulam Muhammad, Khalifa Shaykh, six-
teenth century, 1 84n233
Gikm, 62

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, d. 1832, 2
Golconda, 70, 186*264
Granada, 62, 166ra88
Grohmann, Adolf, 2, 12
Gujarat, 70, 184*231, 185n239; Gujarati,
193* 106

Guru Nanak, d. 1539, 189n21
Gwalior, 166*105

Habib Efendi Isfahan!, Turkish author, d.

after 1889, 55, 69, 72, 75
Hah;?:, Muhammad Shamsuddin, Persian
poet, d, 1389, 15, 59, 63, 86, 95, 143,
144, 191*53

Hah? Osman ibn c All, Turkish calligra-
pher, d, 1698, 24, 36, 38. 44, 58, 72, 74,
76. 92, 168*14, 17I*56,*68, 178*154,
180*170, 187*271, 188*286
Halaf ibn Sulayman c Am run as-Sanhaj!, d.
1007, 166n 88

Hallaj, al-Husayn ibn Mansur, Sufi, d. 922,
6, 91, 94, 103, 121
Hama, 62

Hamdanids of Aleppo, tenth century, 49
Hamdi, Mehmet, Turkish poet, d. 1503,
174*93

HamduHah ibn Mustafa Dede, Shaykh, of
Amasya, Turkish calligrapher d. 1519,
24, 36, 44, 46, 48, 58, 60, 71, 72, 74, 83,
168*21, 169*40, 172*73, 174*93,
187*269, 187*270, 187*271; his grand-
son, 73

Hamid (Muhammad the Prophet), 104
Hammer (Purgstall), Joseph von, d„ 1856,
106

Hamza id- Isfahan!, Arabic author, d. after
961, 1 16, 130, 192*81
Hanbatkes, 180*167
Harith ibn Hilliza, al, Arabic poet, Sixth
century, 201*58

Harvard University, 162*17, 162*23,
163*27, 171*71

Hasan, Mamluk, sultan, r, 1317*1351,
1351*1361, 181*190

Hasan ibn c Abdallah ibn al-Marzuban as-
Siraa Qadi, d. 978, 171*68, 176*113
Hasan ibn ^Abdus-Samad as-Samsiim,
Turkish calligrapher, d, I486, 187*267
Hasan ibn Ahmad Chelebi Charkas, disci-
ple of Qarabi&ari, d. after 1570, 73,
187*277

Hasan ibn "All ibn A hi Talib, d. ca. 662,
110

Hasan-i Hakkak, Persian calligrapher, d,
ca. 1900, 178*152

Had ft, Persian, poet, d r 1521, 206*205
Hatim at-T;V'i, Arabic hero, sixth century,
49

HatUittur nwkberi (Istanbul), 186*259
Haydar (surname of C AH ibn Ab! Talib),
112

Haydar-i Amuli, Sufi, d, 1385, 88, 90
Hayyan ibn c Abdallah aUAndalusl, d, 1212,
166*88

Herat, 1 1, 30, 31, 48, 52, 55, 56, 57, 63,

64, 67, 68, 69, 71, 1 10, 176* 1 19,
178*143, 182*213, 184*230, 186*260;
Murad Garden, 51
Hijaz, 65

Hindu, 68, 123, 145; epics, 84; Hindustan,
67

Holland, 2
Holy Land, 2
H n ro vi tz , | ose f , 1 98* 1 8 7
Hu art, Clement, 55
Huma bird, 1 22

Humayun, Moghul emperor, r, 1530-1556
with interruptions, 52, 67, 191*52
Hunayn ibn Ishaq, d. 873, 187*270
Hurufi, 95, 106-111, 196*163
Hu say n Bayqara of Herat, r. 1470-1506,
51, 55, 64, 66, 110, 134, 1.81*179
Husayn ibn c AIT ibn Ahi Talib, d. 680, 1 10
Husayn-i Hakkak, Persian calligrapher,
d. 1873, 178*152

Hyderabad/ Deccan, 70, 71, 165*78; Hy-
derabad Museum, 186*251: Sabi Jung
Museum, 165*81, 181*179, 185*244,
186*25 Un 264, 190*42
1 1 yderabad/Sind , 1 78* 1 37

239

Iblis, 96

I bn c Abbad t as-Sahtb, d, 995, 13, 19, 62,
123, 1 82n 1 95

Ihn c Abdun, d. 912, I66?t88
I bn Abl J urn bur, fifteenth century, 79
[bn al- c Adlm 7 Karnaluddln, Arabic histo-
rian, d. 1267, 168?/ 17
Ihn aJ-Bawwab, c AlI ibn Hilal, Arabic cal-
ligrapher, d. 1032, 19-22, 30, 39, 14, 47,
48, 56, 57, 63, 76, 80, 128, 129, 164/? 62,
166?? 88, 170/? 49, l?4?/96, 180// 167,

181?/ 190, 200?/ 38

Ibn al-Farid, c Omar, Arabic Sufi poet, d.
1235, 1 79// 163

Ibn al-Jauzi, AbiVl-Faraj ^Abd nr- Rahman,
d. 1 200, 180// 167
Ibn ai Khilzin, d. 1108, 179?/ 162,

204/] 154

ibn al-Lu c avbiya, Hasan ibn "All al-ju-
wayni, Arabic calligrapher, d, 1 191, -1 1,

1 70// 49

Ihn al-Muqaffa c , 11 Abdallah* Arabic author,
cf. ca. 759, 35

Ibn al-MnTao., Arabic poet, d. 908, 123,
135, 137, 205?? 1 82

Ibn aJ-Quff, Arabic physician, d. 1286,

204?/ 142

Ibn an-Nadim, Arabic bibliographer, d. ca.
995, 22

Ibn c Arabi, Muhyfddm, Sufi, d. 1240, 17,
79, 89, 99 t 101, 103, 104, 194// 1 17,

206/? 193

Ibn ar-Rawandh Abu Bakr, historian, d,
after 1199, J7, 21, 35, 63
Ihn ar-Rumi, Arabic poet, d, 8S9 or 897*
40, 199/? 19

Ibn az-Zayyat, d. 847, L 68?/ 27

Ibn Hanba), Abniad, tradition 1st, d. 857,

Ibn Hilal a$-SiibT, Ibrahim, Arabic author,
d. 994, 21, 1 90?/ 2 5
Ihn Hilal , see Ibn al-Bawwab
Ihn Khaldun, Arabic historian, d. 1406, 15,
27, 37, 72

Ibn Khailikan, Arabic historian, d. 1282,
189// 297

Ibn Muqla* Abu *Ali Muhammad, vizier
and calligrapher, d. 940, 18, 19, 21, 22,
27, 30, 31. 38, 39, 46, 54, 56, 94, 128,

136, 160/3 57, 1 66/? 88, 203/3 104; his
brother Hasan (d. 949), 62
Ibn Slna, see Avicenna
Ibn Wahb, family, 46, 172?/ 79
Ibn Wahb al-katib, d, 1036, 22, 1 72?/ 79
Ibn VVahshiyya, 105

lbnul Emin Mahmud (Inal), 23, 188?/ 280
Ibrahim, Maulana, sixteenth century,

Ibrahim II c Adibhah of Bjjapur* r. 1580-
1626, 25, 47, 70, 71, 165?/ 8 1
Ibrahim ash-Shaybani, ninth century, ]
Ibrahim as-Sijzud, ca. 816, 13
Ibrahim bl-zaban, Turkish calligrapher, d.

1741 , 1 7 In 1 30

Ibrahim Cevri (Jaurl), Turkish calligra-
pher, d, 1655, 173^91
Ibrahim ibn Adham, ascetic, d. ca. 770,

129

Ibrahim ibn Madrid of Ghazni, d. 1098.

63, 182?/ 198

Ibrahim ibn Mir- C imad t 185/? 241
Ibrahim Khan Elchi, late seventeenth cen-
tury, 73

Ibrahim Mir/a ibn Bah ram Mirza, d. 1577,
65

Ibrahim Mirza ibn Shahrukh ibn Timur, d.

1435, 63, 1 67?/ 7
Idris, 3

Idraki Beglarl, Indo-Persian poet, d. after
1620, 155, 205?/ 161
Ifriqiyya, 6

lkhwan as-Sala, 80, 91

Ilkhan dynasty, 1256-1336, 165?/ 70,

1 82/? 200

Iltutmish* king of Delhi, r. 121 1-1236,

10,66

Tmad-i Hurufi* fifteenth century, 107
c Imad-i Rum , see Es*ad Yesari
Trnaduddln ibn c Afif, d. 1336, 190/? 23
Inal, .w ibniii Emin

India, 24-26. 3 0-32 1 39, 41, 51-53, 63, 64,
66, 67, 69-7 1 * 84, 86, 97, 125-127, 159,
176?/ 117, 183 k 227, 1 84?/ 237; Indian, J 17,
122, I69n3fx I90//40, 1 9 Bra 1 93; cities, 10;
poets. 30, 109. 122, 130, 131, 143; style,
31, 126; alphabet, 93; Sufis, JO)

1 ndon e s i a , 1 96?/ 1 5 2
Indo-Pakistan, 166/? 100, 190?/ 36

240

Indo-Persian: poetry , 61, 124, 125, 132,

144

I nd u s Valle y , 71, i 84w 254
Iqbal, Muhammad, d. 1938, 175nll0
Iran, 6, 11, 21, 30, 33, 46, 51, 52, 59, 63,
66, 67, 71, 84, 108, 1 16, 123, 128, 159,
166»1G0, 167?? 1 10, 171?? 54, 188??2S0,
206?? 203; eastern, 7, 21, 30; Iranian, 112
Iraq, 33, 42, 59, 126; Iraqian language,
I69??41

Isfahan, 11, 65; Friday Mosque, 10
Isfara'tni, Nuruddln, Sufi, d. 1313,95, 104
Ishaq ibn Ham mad, d. ca. 770, 13
Ishaq ibn Murad ash-Shay banl, d. 821,

162?? 19

Ishaq Qaramanll, Jamaluddin. Turkish cal-
ligrapher, d. 1526-7, 49
Iskandar Mint a ibn Shah Rukh, d. 1435, 57
lsma c 11 (angel), 153
lsma c il al-Kaiib, ninth century, 18
Isma c U Khata'i, Shah, first Safavid ruler, i\
1501-1524, 64, 108, 145; his daughter,

Isma c il Nefeszade, Say y id, Turkish calligra-
pher, d, 1679, 1 68*2 1
lsmailism, 93, 98, 103
c Ismatullah Bukhari, Persian poet, d, 1425
or 1436, 129

c I$matullah of Bijapur, calligrapher, fi, ca,
1600, 70

Israfil (angel), 121, 152
Issam as-Sa c id, 1 67?? 110
Istanbul, 24, 36, 40, 45, 47, 50, 53, 61, 64,
65, 69, 71-73, 75, 162?? 23, 165?? 78,

169?? 40, 180?? 173, 182??210, 1H7??272,
188*280; Qad! c asker of, 51, 175?? 112;
Aya Sofya 5b[ 73, 74, 174*93, 188*293;
Siileymaniye Mosque, 40, 72; Topkapu
Seray, 166?? 100, 181?? 1 79, 181?? 186,

183?? 2 16; Choban Chavush Medrese,
175?? 113; Universite kutiiphanesi,

1 78?? 1 4 1
Italy, 2

-Izxet Efendi, QadT^asker Mustafa, Turkish
calligrapher, d . 1872, 75

Ja c far, Maulana, of Herat, fifteenth cen-
tury, 52

Ja c far as-§adiq, sixth imam, d. 765, 92,
191*59

Ja'far ibn Yahya al-Bannakl, d. 803,

191?? 59

Jahangir, Moghul emperor, r. 1605-1627,
67, 68, 97, IS 1« 179, 184*234, 185?? 239,
191?? 52

JalaJ Atnast, Turkish calligrapher, fifteenth
century, 187?? 269

Jalaluddaula ibn Baha'uddaula, Bu way hid,
r, 1025-1044, 182*193
Jalvatiyya order, 48
Jamal ibn Jala! Amasi, Turkish calligra-
pher, fifteenth century, 187?? 269
Jam!, Mol La : Abdur-Rahman, Persian poet
and Sufi, d. 1492, 58-61, 96, 102, 1 16,
130, 131, 136, 137, 139, 142, 180?? 173,

1 81?? 1 79, 181* 185, 194n 1 28, 202*80
Japanese, 190?? 28
Javanese, 89

J 87.011, Abu c Abdallah, Moroccan Sufi, d.

ca- 1465, 58, 181?? 182
Jerusalem, 176??I23; Dome of die Rock, 86
Jesus, 143, 152
Jill, see 'Abdul -Karim
jirjls (St. George), 152
John the Baptist, 152
Joseph, .we Yusuf
Judeo- Persian, 146
Jupiter, 151

Ka £ ba in Mecca, 151

Kablr, Indian mystic, fifteenth century,

20 1?? 5 2

KSghidhane (Istanbul), 173?? 81
Kalhora dynasty of Sind, 1703-1775, 54
Kallm, Abu Jalib, Indo-Persian poet, d,
1645* 42, 116, 124, 127, 144, 147,

181?? 187
Kano, 27, 29

Karachi, 167?? 1 10; National Museum,

166?? 100

Kara hi sari, .w Ahmad Qarahi^art
Kasbay min Tanam, Mamluk calligrapher,
fi. ca. 1510, 181?? 190
Kasha n, 21, 67, 184?? 237
Kashmir, 124, 185?? 243; Kashmiri, 146,
198?? 106

Katibi Turshi/u, Persian poet, d. 1435, 64

241

Ken ;t n Rifa c I, Turkish Sufi, d. 1950, 48
Khaki Khorasant* Persian Isma c Ili poet, fif-
teenth century, 103, 1 92 m 73
Khalid ibn AbH-Hayyaj, H. ca. 700, 12
Khalilullah Shah (Amir Khalil Qalandar,
Butshikan) Persian calligrapher, d. 1625-
6, 70, 7 !

Khalvadyya order, 48, I 74k 92

Khan-i Ami, Urdu poet, d. 1756, 190n43

Khanhaliq, 15

Khaqitni, Persian poet, d, 1 199, 15, 42, 60,

1 09, 119, 124, 127, 135 t 147, I91ti53,
202 m 76, 205m 183
Khidr (Khizr), 48, 71, 197 m 176
Khorasan* 170 m 52

Ktiumarawayh, Tulunid, i\ 883-896,

17 0n52

KhushhaE Khan Khatak* Pashto poet, d.
1689, 79

Khusrau Yazdl, Molla, d. 1480, 58
Khwajii Kirmlm, Persian poet, d. 1352 or
1361, 128

Khwarizmi, Abu Bakr al-, d. 993, 207 n 225
Killis, 1 72* 80

Kocamustafa Pasha (Istanbul), 74,

188m 286, l 88 m 293

Konya, 10, 112; Karatay Medrese* 11, 25;

I nee Minareli Medrese, 25
Kdpruiu family, I 75 m 1 1 1
Kosti nova, Galina, 167^12
Kubrii* NajtmiddTn, Sufi leader, d. 1221,
100, 194 k 126

Kubrawiyya order, 95. 104
Kufa, 3

Kuhnel, Ernst, 8, I85ra£45
Kushajim* Arabic poet, d. 961, 49, 119,

122, 126, 16Im56, 200m45, 205k 174

Lahore, 38, 117, 167«109, 186 k 254; Pun-
jab University Library, 176k 123
Layla* 142
l,ebanon* 167 m 110
Leningrad, 64

Leylek Dede, Hasan, Turkish calligrapher,
d. 1827, 1 98 k 191
Lings* Martin* 4, 82
London, 180 k 173; British Library,

1 84k 23 2; Royal Asiatic Society, 184k 232
Lucknow, 70, 173 k 84

Luqman the Wise, 129
Luffullah al-Husaynl of Tabriz, Persian cal-
ligrapher, tk 1633, 70

Ma c arri, Abul-'Ala al-, Arabic poet* d.
1057* 21

MadI ibn Muhammad al-Ghafiql* d, 799,
162 k 19

Maghrib* 27, 29, 37, I65n£8
Mahdi, al-, Abbasid caliph* r. 775-785, 13
Mahmud (name of Muhammad the
Prophet), 104
Mahmud, see al- c Adil

Mafimud of Ghazni, r. 999-1030, 181 m 188
Mahmud 11, Ottoman sultan, r 1808-1839
75

Mahmud Bafiri, Qadi, d, 1717, 194m 124
Mahmud Begra of Gujarat, r. 14584511,
70

Mahmud Gawan, minister in Bidar* d.

1481, 69

Mahmud Ishaq* Khwaja, calligrapher at
Akbar’s court, I 83 m 230
Mahmud Nlshapuri, Shah* Persian calligra-
pher* d. 1564 or later* 30, 61, 64, 67,

112, 183k 228

Mahmud Shihabi Siyawushani* Persian cal-
ligrapher, cL 1582, 45* I 72 m 73
Majntm, 142

Majnun of Herat, calligrapher* d. after
1503, 32* 48* 1 71 m 99
Mikll Hill, 71
Malay ala m* 105, 196k 15 l
Malik Day la mi* Maulana, Persian calligra-
pher, d, 1561* 65* 1 66m 100
Malika-Jahan, 47

Mamluks of Egypt, 1250-1517, 12* 25, 62*
118* 165 m 70, 180k 173, 18 Ik J 90; Egy pt*
22, 59, 86

Ma’mun, al-, Abbaskl caliph* r. 813-833*

13, 119

Manchester, John Rvlands Library,

176k 1 23
Mandu* 67
Maner, 1 1 4

Man!, d. 274*6, 155, 173*83, I76 k1I9;

Manichean, 6
Marrakesh, I 66k 88
Mars, 52

242

Ma c ruf, Maulana, Persian calligrapher, d.
after 1435, 57

Marwan ibn al-Hakam, Omayyad caliph, r.

681-685, 62
Mary, Virgin, 77

Mashhad, 61, 61, 67, 176*120, 186*260
Massignon, Louis, 90, 93
M assoudy, Hasan, 120, 167*110
Mas^ud 1 ibn Mahmud of Ghazni, r, 1031-
1041, 63, 182*198

MasTid III of Ghazni, r, 1099-1115, 7, 11
Mas c ud ibn Sa c d-i Salman, Indo-Fersian
poet, d, ca, 1131, H7
Mecca, 24, 66, 118, 164*61, 169*40
Medina, 188*293, 199*5
Mehmet II Fatih, the Conqueror, Ottoman
sultan, r. 1444-1446. 145 1-1481, 16, 69,
71, 1 74#? 93

Mehmet III, son of Ahmad, Ottoman
prince, d, 1756, 75, 188*294
Mehmet Cencerizade (Jenjerlzade), Turk-
ish calligrapher, R 1572, 188*282
Mehmet Dede Shukrullahzade, Turkish
calligrapher, d. 1580, 187*271
Mehmet Eflatun, Turkish calligrapher, d.
1754-5, 181*177

Mehmet Kayserilt, Say y id, Turkish calligra-
pher, ca. 1700, 58

Mehmet Rasim, Turkish calligrapher, d,
1756,47, 83, 171*59, 180*170, 187*271
Mehmet Zeynuddin, Turkish calligrapher,
fl. ca. 1500, 174*93

Melikian-Shtrvani, Asadullah S., 190*41
Mercury, 74, 152

Mesihh Turkish poet, d 1512, 201* 55
Metropolitan Museum, New York, 63, 64,
162*17, 165*86, 176*123,

178*141, *144, 180*171,*] 76, 181*179,
184*232, 187*270, 194*128, 197*176
Mevlevi order, 48, ! 12, 173?t91
Michael, 151
Middle East, 29
Min are - 1 Jam, 11

Minorsky. Vladimir, 167*109, 178*138
Minuchihrl, Persian poet, d. ca, 1040, 123
Mir- t Abdul-Hayy of Mashhad, Persian cal-
ligrapher, d. 1572s 66
Mir-^Ala'uddlaula Qazvlm, Persian author,
sixteenth century, 183*230

Mir- c Ah Haravi (of Herat), al-Faqlr al-Ka-
tib, Persian calligrapher, d. 1556 or
somewhat earlier, 30, 36, 39, 45, 46, 48,
51, 53, 55, 64, 66, 68, 120, 129, 167*8,
174*98, 174*99, 176* 118. 183*227,
185*237, 200*39

Mlr- C All Katib-i Mashhad!, Persian calligra-
pher, d, 1528, 70
Mir L A1I Shir, see Naval
Mir- c Ali Tabriz (of Tabriz), Persian callig-
rapher, early fifteenth century, 29, 36,

47, 64, 163*43

M ir-B aq i r D h u 1-k ainalay n , Per si a n ca 1 1 i gra-
pher, sixteenth century, 183*227
Mir-Ghalatna, lskandar Bukhari, disciple of
Mir-" All Haravi, sixteenth century,

172*76

Mir Dauri, Bayezid Katih al-mutk, calligra-
pher at Akbar’s court, d. 1578, 67,
183*230, 184*231

Mlr-Tmad, Persian calligrapher, d. 1615,
30, 37, 38, 44, 46, 47, 50, 53, 66, 68,

129, 167*8 172*74, 174*99,

175*106, 185*237

Mir-Kalang, Persian calligrapher, 0. ca.

1560, 183*230
Mir-Ma^um, see Nam!

Mir-Shaykh-i Awwal-i KirmanT, calligra-
pher u Tide i Babur, 67
Mlrghanl, c Alt ibn Ibrahim, Sufi, d. 1792,
195*152

Moghul dynasty, empire, 1526-1857, 31,

67, 68, 69, 70, 122, 124, 191*52; album
pages, 54, 1 80* 176; miniatures, 185*238
Mohayuddin, Bawa, 112, 198*193
Mongol/ian, 31, 190*28
Moritz, Bernhard, 164*49
Morocco, 25, 33, 167*110, 196*152; Mo-
roccan, 27
Moses, 90, 151
Mouradgea d 'Ohs son, 50;

MtPawiya ibn Ahl Sufyan, Omayyad cal-
iph, r, 661-680, 62

Mubarak al-Makkl, Egyptian calligrapher,
eighth century, 172*71
Mubarak shah al-Qutb, disciple of Yaqut, d,
1311,22

Mubarakshah Suyufi, calligrapher, d. 1334-
5, 22

243

Muhammad the Prophet, 78, 91, 96, 97,

98, 103, 10-4, 105, 108, 115; his name,

1 10, 1 12, 163?) 34, 193)? 104; his wives,
I72 j? 80; connected with index linger,

190)1 32. See ftl.w Prophet
Muhammad, Say y id of Gujarat, early sev-
enteenth century, 18 5)? 2 39
Muhammad, QatJI of Calicut, d. after 1607,
196)? 154

Muhammad II of Granada, r, 1272-1302,

Muhammad c Alam ibn Muhammad Panah
of Thatta, d ca. 1811, 54
Muhammad Amin, MoJia Hafi? of Kashan,
Persian calligrapher, late sixteenth cen-
tury, 67, 1 8% 230, 184)? 235
Muhammad aj-$uf1 a! -Bukhari, Pir, Persian
calligrapher, d, after 1445, 57
Muhammad Baqir, disciple of Mu c izzudd1n
Kashanl, fl. ca, 1600, 70
Muhammad Fakhruddm al-]4aiabi, d.

1313, 180)? 173

Muhammad Hafiz Khan, Indian calligra-
pher, d, ca, 1780, 168)) 20
M u h a m mad 1 1 u say n Za r rln qala m , Pens i a n
calligrapher at the Moghul court, d . after
1597, 184 ji232

Muhammad Husayn at-Tahrizi, Persian
calligrapher, I67n8

Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Maghnbi, d.
1145, I6fk88

Muhammad ibn Musa ibn al- Basis, elev-
enth century, 174)?96
Mufiammad Ibmhimi, disciple of Sulian-
C A1I, d. 1544, 207)t 230
Muhammad Mu’min ibn 5 Abdallah Mar-
varid, sixteenth century, 182))2J3
Muhammad Sa c id Ashraf, court calligra-
pher of Zebunnisa* d. 1704, I73 ?j 83
Muhammad Salik, d, after 1672, 175k 102
Muhammad Shah Qajar, r. 1834-1848, 66
Muhammad Shah Rang&la, Moghul em-
peror, r. 1719-1748, 68
Muhammad Shamsuddln, eleventh cen-
tury, 176 h113

Muhammad Shauql, Shah Say y id, Sufi, 149
Muhammad Slml Nlshapuri, Persian callig-
rapher, ± after 1459, 57, 64, I7b?69

Muhammad Fughluq of Delhi, r. 1325-
1351, 37

Muhammad-Qull Qu^bshah of Golconda, r,
1580-1612, 25, 70, 165?)8l, 186)) 264
Muhasibi, al-Harith al- t Suli, d. 857, 94
Muhyfddln ibn fatal AmasI, Turkish callig-
rapher, d, 1575-6, 187)? 269
Mu c izz ibn Badis, al-, Zirid ruler, r. 10 lb-
106 1, 6, 62, 162)) 21; his nurse, 6
Mu c izzudd]n Muhammad of Kasha n, Per-
sian calligrapher, d, 1587, 70, 183)) 224,
184)? 237

Mu min Akbarabadi Mush kin- Ragam, In-
dian calligrapher, d. 1680, 68
Murtajjid , Salat; uddln , 1 8 !?? 1 90
Munich, Staadiche Museum fur Volker-
kunde, 1 9&r? 1 94

Munir Lahori, I ndo- Persian poet, d. 1645,
122, 20 hi 46

Muqtadir, al-, Abbasid caliph, r, 908-932,

Murad II, Ottoman sultan, r, 1421-44,
1446- 1451, 71

Murad III, Ottoman sultan,, r. 1574-1595,

Murad IV, Ottoman sultan, r. 1623-1640,
73, l 88 d284

Muraqqisb, al-, Arabic poet, sixth century,
20 1?) 58

Musaylima the Liar, d. 633, 21
Mustafa II, Ottoman sultan, y. 1695-1703,

Mustafa III, Ottoman sultan, r, 1757-1774,
53

Mustafa Dede, son of Hamdullah, Turkish
calligrapher, d. 1539, I87n27l
Mustafa c Izzet Yesafizade, Turkish callig-
rapher, d. 1849, 175 ji 111
Mustafa Raqim, Turkish theologian and
calligrapher, d, 1825, 51, 75, 111,

175)) 112, 180 n 171

Musiansir, al-, Fa timid caliph, r. 1036-
1094, 39

Mustaqimzade, Suloyman Sa c duddin,
Turkish historian and Sufi, d. 1789, 46,
48, 63, 66, 81, 82, 105, 123, 165»88 T
1 69?) 32, 1 69?) 4 1 , 17 l)i 63, 172?t74,

1 74)? 92, 1 7 Sj-? 107, 176)? 11 3,

244

177 n 1 29ji 1 34 ,n 1 35 t 1 78* I 36,

179* 1 54,* 158, 18^ 260, 187*272,
189*22, 190*32, 195^ 152, 199*5
Mustarshid, al-, Abbasid caliph, r. 1118-
U35, 62

Musta c &im, al- T Abbasid caliph r r. 1212-
1258, 62

Mustazhir, at-, Abbasid caliph, r. 1094-
1118,62

Mu c tamid, ah, Abbasid caliph, r, 870-892,
25

M uzaffar Halim the Benevolent of Gujarat,
r. 1511-1526, 70

Muzaffarids of Shiraz, 13 14- 1393, 63

Nadir Shah of Persia, r, 1736-1747,
185*239

Nahifi, Turkish Suh and author, d. 1739,
174*91

Nail!, Turkish poet, d. 1666-7, 119
Najaf, 187*274
Nakhchewan, 11

Kami, Mir Ma c $um, historian and calligra-
pher, d. 1608, 67, 184*234
Naqsbbandi order, 48, 57, 66, 99, 108,

160, 174*92, 179*165, 193*106
Nargisi/ade, M eh met ibn Ahmad, Turkish
calligrapher, d. 1634-5, 73, 180*172,
188*284

Nash udr lin of Delhi, r. 1246-1266, 66
Naslruddin Shah Qajar, i\ 1848-1896, 66
Nasrids of Granada, 1230-1492+ 62, 86
Nasrullab Qandaharl, calligrapher, early
fourteenth century, 57
Nava 1 !, Mir c All Shir, vizier and poet, d,
1501, 56, 64, 181*179, 207*220
Nay mi, Mirza Ahmad, Persian calligra-
pher, early eighteenth century, 24
Na^irlp Muhammad Husayn, Persian poet,
d, 1612, 127, 202*76
Necati (Najati), Turkish poet, d. 1509,

204* 148

Nedim, Turkish poet, d 1730, 74, 188*291
Nefeszade, Sayyid Ibrahim, Turkish callig-
rapher, d, 1650, 73
N c fesz tide , w I si ri a c il

Nesirni, Turkish Huriifi poet, ti 1405, 107,
196*159

Niffan, c Abdul-jabbar an-, Sufi, d. 965,

113

Nigeria, 27, 85

Ni c niatu!lah, Shah, Sufi leader, d. 1431, 69
Nhmatullahl, shrine in Bidar, 69
NIshapur, 138

Nizami, Ilyas, Persian poet, d. ca, 1203, 59*
65, 113, 1 19, 142, 176*123, 198*199,
206* 203; numerical value of his name,
195*139

Nizamuddin Bukhari, calligrapher, six-
teenth century, 32

Nizamuddin Dede, Mevlevi Sufi, ca. 1300,
174*91

Nizamuddin Nish a purl Zarrin-Qalam, Per-
sian calligrapher, d. 1564, 65
Nizamulmulk, Seljukid minister, d. 1094,

Noah, 152, 155
Nu’ahil (angel), 152
Nuni, an- (angel), 79
Nuqtavl sect, 196*163
Nurcu (Nurju) sect, 92
Nusrati, Deccani poet, d. 1684, 186*264
Nil way n t Ahmad ibn c Abdul-Wahhab t d.
1332, 168*24, 179*65

Oljaitu Kfiudabanda, Jlkhan, i\ 1304-1317,

c Omar II ibn c AbdEil- c A/.iz, Qmayyad cal-
iph, r* 717-720, 12, 13
c Omar ibn al-Khattab, second caliph, r.
634-644, 82, 191*49

Omayyad dynasty, 661-749, 12, 62, 199*5
c Othman ibn Allan, third caliph, r. 644-
656, 4, 7, 62, 82, 190*49
Ottoman, 16, 22, 56, 57, 64, 71, 75 t 81,

111, 168*20, 178*141; documents, 13,

15: architecture, 26, 82, 113; Empire, 48,
73; calligraphers, 49, 56, 59, 182*206,
188*280, sultan, 58; miniatures,

185*238; Ottoman J urkey, 31, 40, 47,
48, 50, 51, 63

Pa'izl, Persian poet, ca. 1200, 191*53
Pakistan, 32, 33, 81, 86, 98, 105, 167*110,
175* 110; Pakistani, 99, 167* 109; style of
calligraphy, 21

215

Panjabi, 97, 105, 154, 193/? 106* 196 m 15$
Pali canon, 83

Pan] tan (Muhammad, c All, Fatima, Hasan,
and Husayn), 91
Pashto, 79, 105* 196 ?/ 153
Persian/s* 2, 7, 13, 37, 66, 69, 73, 88, 139,
141, 167/t 1 10, 18&?260* 206?/ 202;
sources, books, 3, 47, 159; poetry, poets,
literature, 5, 6, 10, 26, 31, 40, 41, 48, 51,
54, 59, 72, 76, 80, 103, 116, 119, 120,
122* 129, 130, 131, 1 35 r 138, 141, 167/? 1,
170/? 41, 196?i 153, 207/? 2 19; language,

10, I I, 79, J03, 105, 107. 180?/173,

185/j 239; manuscripts, 29, 112, 113; cul-
ture. 30; Persianate, 29, 63, 123; poets,
80, 128, 174// 95

Petersburg, 167/? 12, See Leningrad
Plato, 119

Pope, Arthur LL, 120
Prophet, Muhammad the, 26, 46, 47, 58,
62, 75, 77, 81. 86* 91* 97, 98* 100, 104,
107* 108* 109, 118, 146* 154* 172?/80;
blessing over, 8, 28, 45, 58, 83, 105,

186/? 251, 193?/ 106; name of, 11, 12, 23,
33. 80, M2, 198// 195; sentences of, 35,
101, I 30* 171?/63; appearance in dream*
181// 182; companions of* 191//49; //// 'uv/jf,
207// 222

Pseud o-MajrlfT, 195/? 137
Puratii family of Herat, 56

Qabus ibn Wushmglr* r_ 978-1013, 62
Qadl Ahmad, son of Mir Munshl* d. after
1606, 29* 33, 65* 159
Qadi T yad, North African theologian, d.

1 149, 58

Qa<^i Qadan. Sindhi Sufi poet, d, 1551, 96,
126* 140

Qadiriyya order, 48, 174?? 92
Qaf, Mount, 137, 154
Qajar dynasty, 1779-1924, 66
Qallch Beg, Mir/a, Sindhi author, d. 1929,
132* 137, 204/? 129* 205?/ 172
Qalqashandl, Shihabuddin Ahmad al-, d„
1418, 12* 13, 128, 1 63?/ 37, 189/? 297,

194// 125
Qandabar, 52

Qandusi, al-* Moroccan calligrapher, early
nineteenth century, 27
Qan^auh al-Ghuri, Mam Ink sultan* r, 1501-
1516, 181/? 90

Qasiui Ghubari, Sayyid, Turkish calligra-
pher, d. after 1617. 165/? 78
Qasim-i Kahi* Persian poet, d. 1580,

196?/ 153

Qasiui Shadhlshah, disciple of Mlr-^All, d.

after 1553* 177// 131, 184/? 231

Qa(i c i of Herat, Molla, calligrapher and au-
thor, d. in India 1615, 1 78/? 1 43, I83//230
Qays ibn al-Khatim, Arabic poet, d. before
622* 123

Qaytbay, Mamluk Sultan, r. 1468-1496,

1 80 ,'/ 1 73

Qazvin* 52* 67, 18 4/? 230

Qirlrni, see c Abdallah

Qgmir, dog of the Seven Sleepers* 85,

191?/ 50

Qorqut, Ottoman prince* d. 1512, 71
Qum, 61

Qufbuddln Yaxdi, d. after 1586, 73
Qutubsbahis of Golconda, 1512- 1687* 70

Raghib Pasha, Ottoman grand vizier, cL
1762, J 75n 1 1 1
Raqim* see Muspsla
R ash Ida , see c A l>d u r- R as hid
Rasim, see Mehmet

Rasim Efendi, Turkish calligrapher, d,
1885, 178/? 150
Rauda (Cairo)* 9

Reshad Muhammad V, Ottoman sultan, i\
1909-1918, 58
Rich, George, 175?? 1 10
Rice, D. S., 164?? 62

Ril' c at Efendi* Turkish calligrapher, d.

1942, 53

Righteous caliphs, 12, 58, 82
Riza- C AH Shah Qadiri, Indian calligrapher,
d, af ter 1833, 1 74m 92
Rosenthal, Franz, 4, 23
Rumeli; QadPasker of* 51
Rumi* Maulana JalaluddTn, Sufi poet, d,
1273* 59, 7H, 80, 86, 87, 88, 90, 95, 96*
99, 100, 1 12* 113* 120. 122, 125, 129*
131, 138* 173?/ 83, 173?? 91, 189/? 3,

246

191*53, 193*100, 193*103, 108*198,
200*41, 202*76
Russians, 64, 167*12

Ruzbihan Baqll, Suli of Shiraz, d. 1209, 79,
98, 104

Sird ibri Abfl-Waqqas, d. between 670 and
674, 191*49

Sa'di* Shaykh Mu^libuddin, Persian poet,
d. 1292, 59, 130, 202*76**80
Siidiqain, Pakistani artist* 32, 99
Safadi* Khalil ibn Aybek, historian* d,

1363, 134

$aiavids, 1501-1724, 11, 26, 30, 32, 52, 64*
70, 108* 159* 183*216, 206*203
5a h ban, model of Arabic eloquence, 129
Sahib, see Ibn 'Abbad
Sahl ibn Harun, early ninth century*

168*24

Sabi at- I us lari* Sufi, d. 896, 94
Sa'ib, Muhammad 'All, Persian poet* d.
1677, 117* 181*177

Sa c ld ibn Zayd, companion of the Prophet,
d. ca. 670* 191*49

Salad in {$alabuddin) al-Ayyubi* Sultan, r.
1169-1193, 41

Salman al-Farisi, d. after 656, 98
Salma mi Savaji, Persian poet, d. 1376, 117,
125, 202*79

Sam Mirza* son of Isma'il Safavi, d. 1576,
52, 182*213

Samarkand, 11, 57, 103; paper from, 14,
170*52

Sami, Turkish poet, eighteenth century*

127

Sami al-Barudi, Egyptian poet, d. 1904,
207*227

Sami Efendi, Turkish calligrapher* d. 1912,
204*139

Samrna dynasty of Sind* ca. 1350-1520, 71
Sam sun* 71
Sanaa, 4

Sana !, Abu 4- Majd Majdud, Persian Sufi
poet* d. ca, 1131* 21, 94, 95, 102, 109,
111, 113* 137, 139, 141, 145, 198*198
Sangi* see c Al]

Sanskrit* 81, 94, 149, 154
Sar-i Pul* 9

San c Abdallah, Turkish author* d. 1659-
60* 174*91

Sari as-Saqap, Sufi, d, ca. 867, 96
Sarmad, Persian poet, d. 1661 in Delhi,
146,207*234
Sassui, 79

Satan, 194* I 16. See utso Iblis
Saturn, 151, 154
Saudi Arabia, 167*110
Say ra f i* see ' A bd a 11a h
Sayyid Ahmad of Mashhad, disciple of
Mir- C AIT, d. 1578, 52, 70, 180*76,
183*216* 186*261

Sayyid-' All Tabriz! al-Husayni Jawahir-
Raqam, Persian calligrapher* d. 1682, 68
Sc hay a, Leo* 104
Schroeder* Eric* 7
Schuon, Erithjof, 146
Seljuks, 1038-1194, 10, 55, 63
Selim II, Ottoman sultan* i\ 1566-74*
187*277

$ekercizade (Shekerjizada), Turkish callig-
rapher, d. 1753, 167*8
Seven Sleepers, 85, 86, 91, 191*50
Sevilla, 166*88, 177*136
Sha'baniyya order* 48
Shabistari, Mahmud* Sufi* d. 1320, 60
Shadhili* Abu i-Hasan ash-, Sufi leader, d.
1258, 194*115

Shadhiiiyya order, 180*173, 194*115
Shafi'a of Herat, calligrapher, d, (676, 31
Shah- C Alain of Gujarat, saint, fifteenth cen-
tury, 185*239

Shah-Daulat of Manet , saint, early seven-
lee iHh century, 114

Sbahi Sab/A ari, Jamal uddin* Persian poet,
d. 1453, 60,64, 178*141, 180*176
Shahjahan, Moghul emperor, r. 1627-1658,
50^ 68, 124, 137* 185*242, 191*52
Shah-Muhammad of Mashhad, see Sultan-
Mu ham mad

Shah Shuja' die Mujpaffarid, r. 1364-1384,
63

Shah-Shuja c ibn Shahjahan, d, 1659, 68
Shakarln-Qalam* see 'Abdullah
Sharafuddln of Ya/d (Yazdi), Persian au-
thor, d, 1454, 73, 69, 182*203, 207*231
Sharif al-Murtada, ash-, d. 1044* 19

247

Sharif Farisi, son of c Abdus-$amad, callig-
rapher at A k bar's court, d. 1612, 165rc78
Shauql, Ahmad, Egyptian poet, d. 1932,

19. 140

Shayba.nl , see Ibrahim
Shaybani Khan (Shaybak), Uzbek ruler, r,
1500-1510, 52, 176m 119
SI] ay ban ids, 52

Shehlt Ahmed Pasha, Ottoman grand vi-
zier, d. 1753, 175 m 111
Shemza, Anwar, Pakistani painter, 98
Shia, 10, 61, 79, 82, 90, 93, 96, 98, 190m 42;
twelve imams, 101, 193 m 106; fourteen
martyrs, 106; Shiite, 26, 84, 86 , 88,

186m 260

ShiblT, Abu Bakr ash-, Sufi, d. 945, 202 n80
ShihabI , see Mahmud
Shiraz, 18, 39, 63, 104, I87w.274
Shlrm, 117, 119

Shuhda al-Katiba, Zaynab Sitt ad-dar, cal-
ligrapher, d. 11 78, 21, 47
Shukrullah Khalifa, son-in-law of Hamdul-
lah, d. 1543, 72, 187n27l
Shukrullah Qazvlni, calligrapher, fifteenth
century, 69

Shukrullahzada, see Mehmet Dede
Shushtarl, c AiI ash- + Egyptian Sufi, d. 3 269,
103, 195m i n

Shir mi, Molla Abu'l-Qasim, calligrapher,

H, last half fifteenth century, 57
Sijistnnl, Abu Ya c qub as-, IsimTHT thinker,
tenth century, 103
Si mi, see Mu ha m m ad

Sinan, Mi c mar, Turk, architect, d. 1578, 3
Sind, 46, 54, 67, 71, 76, 108, 122, 145,

178m ]49, 184m 234, 205m 161; Sind hi lan-
guage and literature, 79, 105, 126, 132,
137, 140, 193m 106, 196m 153, 198m 193
Si rail, see Hasan
Sivas, 10, 1 1
Socrates, 172^* 80
Solomon, 84, 133, 152
Somali, 190m 28
Sourdei-Thomme, Janine, 2
Spain, 10, 26, 27, 163m 28; Spanish silks,

27; text, 28
Sprenger, Aloys, 70
Sri Lanka (Ceylon), 1 12

St. Laurent, Beatrice, 162 m 23
Subki, Taqiuddm as-, historian, d, 1355, 26
Sudan, 167nll0
Suhrawardi* see Ahmad
Su lay man ibn c Abdul-Malik, Omavyad cal-
iph, r. 715-717, 199m 5
Sulayman-Shikdh son of 1 lara-Shikoh, <1.
1660, 68

Suleyman the Magnificent, Ottoman sultan
r. 1520-1566, 72, 84
Suleyman U, Ottoman sultan, r. 1687-
1690, 188m 287

Sultan-* Ah of Mashhad (Mash had!}, Per-
sian calligrapher, d 1519, 3, 30, 36, 38 t
39, 48, 51, 52, 56, 60, 63, 64, 68, 72, 76,
168m 13, 174m 97, L75»99, 176fiI14, 119,
179 m 158, 180m 173, 181m 179, !85m237,
207m230

Sultan Ba.hu, Panjabi Sufi poet, d, 1692,

19 8m. 98

Sultan-Mahmud of Turbat, Pers. calligra-
pher, 11, alter 1500, 184 m 23J
Sultan- Muframmad Nur son of Sultan- 4 Ali,
Persian calligrapher, d. after 1532, 67 t
I 97 m 176

Sunbuliyya order, 48, 74
Sunnite, 66, 82, 110, I85m237
Sura’ll (angel), 153

Suyokuzade, Mustafa ibn c Omar, Turkish
calligrapher, d, 1696, I 87 m 271
Snyutu JalaJuddin as-, Egyptian polymath,
d. 1505, 143, 180m 170* 206m 206 '

Swahili* 105, I 96m 155
Syria* 118* 167m 11, 188m 280; Syrian,
I68m17 t 177m136; paper, 13, 41; glass,

Szigetvar, 72

Tabbakh* set c AbdalIah-i Haravl
Tabriz, 44, 52, 64

Tahir ibn Hasan Nisyanl, author in Sind,
d, 1641, i 89 m 298 ‘

Tahmasp, Shah $afavi, r. 1524-1576* 30,
64,65*67, 112, I 78m H i, 183*216
Taj Mahal, 26, 185 m 244
Tallia, companion of the Prophet, d. 656,
191 m 49

248

Talih, Kashmiri poet, seventeenth century,
189?/ 20

Tillpur dynasty of Sind, 1786-1843, 54, 71
library, 178*137

Tanavoli, Parvis, Persian artist, 139 t

167/1 no

Tarkhan dynasty of Sind, 1555-1592, 7 1
Tashbihl of Kashaii, late sixteenth century,
196?? 163

Tsashkdpriizade, Turkish historian, d.

156 l t 17 4*92

Tattawi, Ibrahim, d, 1899, 202*76
fau hidk .w Abu H ay y an
TehramGulistan Museum, 64; Imperial Li-
brary, 180*176, 18 hr! 79, 185*239
Tclugu, 69

Tha c alibi J £ Abdul-Malik, Arabic author, d.

1038, 1 28, 203?/ 1 00
Thatta, 45, 71
Tiberias, 1 70/! 52

T*b1, Muhammad ibn Hasan a*-, early six-
teenth century, 181*190
Tigris, 186*258

Timur, r. 1370-1405, 15, 22, 24, 42, 54,

63; his grandson, 25

Timurids, House of Timur, 1380-1506, 11.
26, 29, 30, 48, 52, 55, 57, 64, 66, 68,

159, 206*203

Toqadizade, Turkish calligrapher, seven-
teenth century, 188*287
Toledo, 166*88
Trablus, 170*52
Trabzon, 48
Tramoxania, 180*165
Tughral, Mu'ayyidaddln, Arabic poet, d.
1120, 55, 178* 146

Tughrul Hi, Seljuk ruler, r, 1176-1194, 63
T til tin ids, 868-905, 1 70/? 52
Tunis, 6; Tunisia, 6, 162*21; Tunisian, 27,
37

Turan, II

Turkey, 11, 23, 31, 36, 40, 44, 46, 48, 53,
55, 56, 58, 66, 75, 81, 86, 92, 101, 102,
108, 111, 128, 133, 145, 159, 173*81,
174*91, 193*106; Turkish, 82, 92, 111,
116, 168*20, 172*78, 172*80, 174*91,
181* 188, 204* 128; calligraphic styles, 15,
24, 31, 53, 71, 73, 74, 101; mosques, 23;

calligraphers, 32, 36, 50, 51, 56, 58, 59,
83, 86, 100, 160, 175*107, 180*169,
180*173; poets, literature, 40, 16, 54, 55,
72, 74, 76, 81, 82, 103, 105, 107-110,

119, 123, 127, 129, 132, 135, 138, 139.
142, 143, 159, 160*6, 163*34, 174*93,
178*141, 182*210, 195*143, 204*148,
206*206, 207*219; courts, 72; language,
79, 124, 1 96* 156; Turkish poetry, 64,
181*179; Turks, 47, 71, 74, 100, 111,

1 30, 144

c Ubayd Khan, Abu' 1-Gha/i c Ubaydullah
Uzbek, r. 1534-1539, 52
Umld, Kashmiri poet, seventeenth century,
124

Urdu, 154, 175?i 1 10

H'rtt Shlrazi, Persian poet, 4- 1591, 189*11
Uskildar, 36, 75

Uskitdari Hasan ibn Hamza, Turkish cal-
ligrapher, d. 1614, 187*271
Uzbeks, 52, 176*1 19; Uzbek poetry,
193*106
Uzgend, 1 l

Vafa'I, G Abdallah, Turkish calligrapher, d,
1728, 101, 177*134

Vahdeii, Mehmet Sevket, Turkish calligra-
pher, d. 187T 56, 1 78* 1 52
Vasft Efendi, Mehmet, Turkish calligra-
pher, d. 1831, 58, 75

Vehbi, Turkish poet, early eighteenth cen-
tury, 74, 188/1 287

Vehbi Efendi, I urkish calligrapher, d.

1845, 190*32
Venus* 152
Vienna, 73, 180*173
Vizeli Alaettin* Turkish Suft t 195?/ 150

Walld, al-, Omayyad caliph, r. 705-715, 12,
128

Wash, 39

Wasmaa Chorbachi, Iraqi calligrapher,
167*110, 185*246
Windsor Castle, 181*179
Wolf son, Harry, 77

Yaftya a^-$utl, disciple of Yaqut, d. after
1345, 47, 187*274

249

Yaftya Fir, calligrapher, d. 147#,

72* 1 87i/274

Yahya Bey, Turkish poet, fifteenth cen-
tury, 20 5/r 1 60

Yahya ibn c Ostnan, Turkish calligrapher,
ch 1755, 1 7 1 h 59

Yahya KemaJ (Reyatii), Turkish poet* d.
1958, 74

Yahya Shaykh ul-Islam, Turkish poet and
calligrapher, d 1643, 175/? 1 1 1

Yahya Sibak Fattahl, Persian poet, d. 1448*
64* 182?/ 2 It)

Ya c qub Aqqoyunlu, r, 1478-119(1, 63

Yaqut al-MustcYsimi, calligrapher, d. 1298,
21, 22, 25, 36, 37, 57, 61, 62, 63, 71, 72,
76, 1 28* 129, 130, 166/? 88, 174/? 91,

182/? 199, 185?? 239* 187//269; Yaqutian
tradition, disciples, 47, 49, 71, 164//67,
1787/119, 181/? 189, 182?/ 200

Yashbek min Mahdl ad-Dawadar, Mamluk
to mister* d , J 480* 1 80/i 1 73

Vec4ikiilT.il i c Abdallah, Turkish calligrapher,
d. 1731,74

Yemen, 91; Yemeni fabrics, 8

Yesamade, see Mustafa c l7/,et

Yunus Emre, Turkish Sufi poet, d. 1321,
94, 95, 114, 137
Yusuf (Joseph), 109, 152
Yusuf c Adilshah of Bijapur, r. 1 4B9- 1510,
70

Yusuf as-Sijzi, d, ea. 829, 13

Zaki, Basse rn, 9, 163// 27* 17 b/ 71
Zamakhsharl, Abu'l-Qasim* theologian, d,
1144. 160/? 57

Zamzarn well in Mecca, 169// 40
Zaragossa, 10

Zaynuddin Sha c ban a l- A than, 174//97
Zebunnisa, daughter of Aurangzeh, d.

1701, 47, 173// 83
Zirld dynasty, 972-1 1 21, 6, 62
Zubayr, companion of the Prophet, d. 656,
191//49

Zuhdii Efendi, Hah/ Isina^Ii, Turkish Cal-
ligrapher, d. ca. 1806* 175 ?i 1 12
Zuhdu Efendi, furkish calligrapher, d,
1879, 178/? 152

Zuhurl, Muhammad, Persian poet in the
Deccan, d. 1615, 70

250

Index

of Technical Terms

A, «tif r 9, 15, 16> 19, 22, 83, 102, US, 119,
204n 148; Kufic, 3, 5, 94, 135, 204nH2;
two- horned, 3; split-arrowhead, 3; as ha-
sic letter in calligraphy, 18; nine points
in muhaqqaq, 23; seven points in thuluth,
23; five points in naskh and riq c a t 23; as
stature, standing person, 45, 50, 91, 95,
96, 108, 134, 136, 139, 141, 142; as Hag,
72; sign of ufdhidiyya, 89; angel with
beard, 90; upright position, 91; fiery
sign, 92, 96, 103; and Divine order, amr t
93, 195n 137; connected with id-ban, 93;
letter of Allah, 94-96, 99, 103, 193w98,
193nl06, 193?il07; as dUf, “connecting”
94; ereader as, 94; of bism, 95; of Ahmad,
96, 97; of Iblis, 96; connected with
mi^raj, 98; of \dfat, 103; of Allah, 103,
104; as nose and equator of the face,
106, 108; as arrow, 135; as needle, 139,
140; as tongue, 136; connected with a l-
badi c , 149; with Universal Intellect, 149;
as originator, 154; as cypress, 155;
unique, 187^271; proud, 193w 103; con-
nected with Divine Life, 195nl44; pure,
204ra 154; alif-i sayqal high degree of pol-
ishing, 102

a-l-m at the beginning of Sura, 2, 3, 29-32,

91, 141

uhjad, Arabic alphabet according to the old
Semitic order, 92, 106
ahi% Turkish thru, “cloud paper” mar-
bleized paper, 124
t adam “non-existence,” 146
tthad, “One, 11 97, 154, I93i?106
ahadiyya, “Absolute Oneness,' 1 89
dhar , starch for paper, 42, I71u56
Ahenln-Qalam “Steel Pen,”j££ Sul ay man
aht alJdtdb, those who own a God -sent
book, 77

dkhir t The Last, connected with Ad, 150
alam “pain,” connected with 91, 141;

connected with c alam, 146
c afaw “world, 5 * mystical explanations of its
letters, 97, 146

L dlam al-mithdl t the world of imagination,
152

-fl/m. The Knowing, connected with dad,
151

aim yaztei (Turkish), “what is written on the
forehead,” late, 78

Aljamiado, texts in Spanish and other lan-
guages in Arabic letters, 28
A Hah, 9, 62; two lam of, 9, 99, 100; numer-
ical value, 66, 92, 101; in ishtiqaq halm,
103, 104; h of, 99, I94u ll6; “Greatest
Name of God,” divisible, I95 ?j 141

251

Af-mufk Ink, "Thine is the Kingdom," 111
c Ambar!n-Qalam "Ambra-Pen*” 51: see also
c Abdur- Rahim

Ammtu. gemsi (Turkish), boat made of the
words of the longer profession of faith
Am&ntu bt’lldk . , . * ] 0 1
amin 7 “Amen.' 1 in isktiqaq kabir, 103
arm\ Divine Order, 93, 195*137
animated letters, 32, 110, 167*110

intellect, SO; V//-/ kuU, Universal In-
tellect, 149

aqldm muyattaba, "rounded” styles of cursive
writing, 22

L ashiq-i swliq, "faithful lover," 137
atial traces of deserted camping places,

123

ay(i{t), "sign,” verse of the Koran, 5, 108*
109, lid, 197*166

ayai-i bttyyinat, "signs of clear proof," 94
c tiyn: in Maghribi, 27; symbol of c Ali, 96,
93, 105; “eye," 108, 128, 134, 137, 157;
eyelid, 141; of c atiam t 146; connected
with Universal Matter, 150; numerical
value seventy, 194nll5; "essence,”
194*124; of *dbid, 198*198
c aynak t ‘spectacles” 61
c azh, The Precious, Powerful, connected
with |o, 153

h, hd\ 18, 95, 98* 193* 103; of bism, 62* 95.
102* 105* means bafia Allah, 83; con-
nected with c aql 3 93, 98, 194* 114; con-
nected with air, 93; means the fourteen
innocent martyrs* 106; as boat, 136, 155;
as bleeding heart, 136; connected with
iattf, 154

badi\ The Originator, 7, 149
bdHth, The Invoking, 149
Imkht-s \iyah, “black fate,” misfortune, 38
balabaylan language, 103, 196*157
baqii, "duration,” 125
bar aha, blessing power, 10, 36, 40, 57, 81,
82, 84, 86, 105

has, "enough’ 1 (from first and last letter of
the Koran), 103

hasmata, formula "In the name of God
■ ■ * " 24, 62, 105, 143; in Kufi* 15;
written by Qarahi^ari* 72; written by

Mtiftafa 11, 74; written by Ahmad 111,

75; to write it beautifully leads to Para-
dise, 81; its eighteen letters, 83, 194* 128,
195*152; in bird shape, 111, 112,

198* 191; in shape of a lion, 112; on a
grain of rice, 165*78; styles of, 189*22
Basrian style of Arabic, 3
bafin, The Inner, connected w ith Say*. 150
hayt d-ma c mut\ at the heavenly Ka c ba,

151

Bihari style, 3 1

Imttiillah, 95, 108; as Greatest Name of
God* 194*128; bnmtlldh ceremony* 83,
190? 36

Book of actions, 80* 130, 131, 132
Bride's tresses, zulf-i c arHs, style of calligra-
phy, 32

bunayya, "My dear son,” wrong reading of
rtabiyya “My prophet*” 199*5
but “idol, 1 ” formed by the letters ftd and id
as contrasted to the alif of Adah, 95

cl p, Persian letter revealed to Padlullah Hu-
r fifi, 107; in poetry, 156
Chancellery styles, 12, 13, 13, 16, 23, 24,
29, 31

chapm vis, "writing in mirror script,” 56
ch ash m- i f\ rang +< s pect acles , ” 181*185
"doud -paper,” 122; See also abri
Crescent script, 32

d, dad, 106* 156; connected with c aii»t, la I
d, dal 1 13, 193*104, 193*106, 205*158;
Kufi* 5; tresses, 50; foot, 55; corresponds
with tabi^a, 93; earEhy letter, 93, 96;
crooked* bent, 95, 96, 135; pun on dail,
"pointing,” 107* 136, 142; points to dau-
fat, 136; curl* 141; corresponds to muhitt,
152; down on the cheek* 156; mustache*
205* 18

ddmaaddr, letters "with a train,” 38
dauiat, "Fortune*” connected with da with
41* 146

dcmat, "inkwell,” 40* 41* 122
dhik>\ "remembrance,” recollection of God*
99

dhimtfi }, member of the ah l at -hi tab, ] 7 ] 07
Dhul-fiqar, c All’s two-edged sword, 102

252

divan, collection of poetry, 108, 128, 132,
143

divan , di twilit “bureaux," “chancellery/ 1 12,
46, 73, 169?? 31

divdni script, 15, 16; jail dwanl, 16
dot, point For measuring the letters, 18, 23,
96, 99, 115, 135; primordial, expresses
wahthtf, 89, 97; secret of, 94
dots, diacritical marks for the letters, 4, 16,
27, 116, 118, 121, 134, 162*15, 164*50,
199*5, 200?? 45; beneath the hd\ 98
du^a-yt qaf prayer centred upon the letter
qaf 195* 136

dh t dhid, 205* 158; connected with mudhill,
153; mole, 156

etrnler, (Turkish) “men of God," 94

ffa; in Maghribi, 27; symbol of fane, and
fftqr, 105; poetical interpretation, 137,
156; corresponds to qmm, 153
jdiak-i atlas, the highest sphere, 150, 151
jam al-asad, “lion s mouth/’ ttie letter c *y*
before at if or lam> 137
[ami “extinction/' annihilation of the self,
105, 125

faqh\ “poor,” the spiritually poor mystic as
contrasted to the Eternally Rich God, 94
faqr, “poverty,” 105
jatwa, “legal decision," 79, 131
finnan, official document, decree, 13, 67,
117

First Intellect, 79, 99; See aha c aql
Flame-script ((dev yazitf), modern style of
calligraphy, 32

furu ‘ the positive rules derived from the
uyul al-jiqh f 131

g, Persian letter, revealed to Fadhtlklh Hu-
r&ft, 107

gh? ghayn; corresponds to Universal Form,
150; mole, 157; “absence,” 194*124
ghalai “mistake,” 116
ghaut. The Rich, corresponds to jim, 151
ghamna (Urdu), spiritual chain of artists,
120

ghazaK lyrical poem of usually seven to
twelve lines, 132, 179*158
ghubat, “dust” script, 24, 144, 147, 174?? 99,

182*210, 207*213; Koran in, 24; Niza-
mi's Khama in, 65

ghuhiir al-hitya, “dust” script for pigeon
post, 13

ghusl, complete bath after major impurities,
37

gut, “rose/ 1 not made of g and /, 1 1 3, gui-t
muhammadi, rose formed from the names
of the Prophet, 1 12

gulbdng, “loud cry,” service of the dervish,

102

h r hid 16, 83, 193?? 104, 193?? 106; connected
with af-taba’i* ai-a>ba c a, 93; connected
with the primordial matter, 150; poetical
interpretations* 136, 156; connected with
the Divine Will, 195* 144; kd duasi,
prayer playing with words beginning in
h&\ 102

h t hd y he, numerical value five, 5: for the
separation of live Koranic verses, 5; sym-
bol of huwiyya, “Ipseity” 99, 100, 104,
194??1 16, 198* 200; corresponds to the
earth, 103; “with two eyes,” 109, 139;
corresponds to Universal Soul, 151; as
ball, 157; symbol of hayula t 93, 104
h-m- c -s-q t beginning of Sura 42, 91
kadi “The guiding [Prophet]," 91
hdfiz, pi. huffdz. who knows the Koran by
heart, 82, 190*30
“hanging style /Uw taHiq, nmtaHiq
hakim, The Wise, corresponds to khd, 150
hamfa, “inkwell/' 169?? 41
hdtt.'i, “Swan, goose/ 1 198*193
haqtqa, Reality, 59; haqiqa muhammadiyya,
the archetypal Muhammad, 89 } 101, 154
hmj a (■ c atj\ ' l co nj u net ion ,” 1 00
harf mmhshaddad, “doubled letter,” 206?? 193
harvarahu, “he wrote, sc. a vocalized text,"
171*61

hatm cuzleri (plural, Turkish) khatm yuileri t
the lasL, thirtieth, part of the Koran, 58
hayvld, primordial matter, 150
hayy, 1 he Living, connected with if?, 153
hazari, commander of thousand, 186?? 250
hibr, “ink/ 1 12

hik mat, “Wisdom,” mystical interpretation,
195*138

253

hfch, (Persian) “nothing,” 139
hildi, "crescent,” 21, 128, 219; numerical
value, 66, 92

hiUiytt, space filler in Kufi inscriptions, 9
hilya-i shanf\ description of the Prophet, 15,
47, 58, 75, 86, 174*94, 180*171, I9lw48
hhah cd-jummai “gem at da,” 92 t 192*8 1
hu "He,” 111

hubd, primordial matter, connected with hd,
150

hujffiZy 4; See also hdfiz
huwa "He,” 99

ibdd c , creation from nothing, 149
tfsha tit-sirr, "divulgence of the secret" of
love and union, 121
ijaza script, 15

ijaza (Turkish itazet I “permission/ 1 36, 44,
45, 46, 47, 75

Hid, "hut," beginning of the second half of
the shahada, 102

z ihn uf-kttab, "knowledge of the book” in
Hurufl inter p relation, 106
ink, 12, 39; colored, 15, 40; black, 38; solu-
ble in water, 42, 80, 126. 127; mystical
interpretation, 79, 89, 90; tresses like,
115; in poetical Language, 122, 126;
strange ways of making, 131, 145,

20 1m 52; See hibr, middd
inkwell, 40, 41, 169 m41, I 70m 44; mystical
interpretations, 79; poetical comparison,
119, 120, 122, 144 \ See also dawdt
signs of declension in Arabic, 104
indl “swinging of the long ends," 38
c fv hq, "love" (also c ashq), letter interpreta-
tion, 113, 198*198

ishtiqdq kabv, cabalistic method of interpret-
ing words, 96, 103, 193*101

hfitoy 193m 103, 205m 1 80; connected with
nafs, 93; watery letter, 93; poetical com-
parison, 136; as curl, 136, 142; con-
nected with ghanl, 151; roses, 156
jajr, prognostication from letters, 92
jail, the large form of calligraphic styles,

13, 38, 59, 63, 75, 171*59
jdwi c , The Combining, corresponds to mm t
154

jan, "soul/ 5 134, 136

Jawahir-Raqam, "Jewel- Letter,” 51, 68; See
Sayyid- c All

jm\ one thirtieth of the Koran, 56, 63;
amount oijuz a calligrapher could write,
57, 58, 179 m 165; bound separately,

162m 23, 179m 162

A, kafy 99, 138; Kufic, 5, 7, 33, 138; con-
nected with shakuv, 150; as salt spoon,

157

k-h-y^-s, beginning of Sura, 19, 91
kaffy "Hand,” "loam,” 199* ] I
kghidh, "paper/ 1 123; kaghidh-i held, “wind-
paper” for pigeon post, 124; kctghidh-j
afashzdda, “kindled paper/ 1 125
fmhhh-i kdf-i kamm, "the drawing of the
letter kaj of the word kamm t generosity,”
138

katabaihu, "he has written/" signature of the
calligrapher, 36, 44, 45, 1 7 1 m 68, 172m 73,
173m 82; transformed into kunhriiv* 167m 7
kdfiby "scribe" secretary, 12; numerical
value of, 92
kalhdfaty "density," 150
khy kha: abreviation for khdbdw, 105; for
khitdl 105; corresponds to Universal
Body, 150; like a hoopoe, 156
khiifi, the small hand of calligraphic styles,
13, 38

khal, “mole/ 1 beauty spot, 130
khdtam an-nufmwwa, "Seal of Prophetshtp/’
resembles mm, 98

hhatt, "script/ 1 35, 55* 84, 203m 114; trans-
formed into hazz, 49, 160m 57; double
meaning as “down on the cheek," 39,

107, 110* 128-134, 143, 144, 160*57,

197m 166* 203m 104, 203* 1 19, 204* 124,
207*213

khatki Bdhuri, 66

khatf-i chap, from left to right. 178*148
khatt-i ma c ku\, mirror script, 56
khatt-i rt&khun, script engraved with the fin-
gernail, 32

khait aPmu'dmardt, script for correspon-
dence between amirs, 13
khatf ai-qkas, script for small pieces of pa-
per, 13

khatt-i tarsdy "Christian script,” which goes
from left to right, 127, 128

254

khaftat, "calligrapher," 36; numerical value,
92

khirqa-i tabarruk, gown given to a Sufi for
the sake of blessing, 45
khubz (d-kutiah, "bread of the scribes;"

hodgepodge, 1 76* 1 1 3
hi ram katibw, the "noble scribe angels/' 80
ku, "where/ 1 interpretation of the dove’s
voice, 1 1 1

Kufi/c, 3, 4, 8, 10, 12, 29, 31, 105, 162*19;
inscriptions, 2, 25; eastern, 6, 7 t 163*23;
Karmathian, 7; Western, 3; floriated, 9;
foliated, 9; plaited, 9, 10, 11, 76. 163*31;
Persian, 1 1; slmfmnji "rectangular/ 1
"square" 11, 12, 86, 112, 163*34,

167* 1 10; See aha Koran, Xufic
kun, "Bel" God’s creative word, 99, 149
Kurtt-nishm, "sitting on the chair," properly
placed, 127

l, lam , 9, 15, 107, 119; like tresses, 50, 91,
138, 141, 157; of Allah* 99, 100, 103,

104; as Gabriel, 91; meaning laiij] 91; in
genuflection, 91; as cheek, 141; crooked,
142; connected with qtikir, 152; Divine
knowledge, 195*144

La , Idmallj. 76, 94, 101; as single letter, 23,
101, 140; Kufic, 61; in poetry, 140; em-
brace, 140; tress and stature, 157
!a, 101, 102; as sword, 102; as crocodile,
102; as scissors, 102, 195*330; in its
meaning "No" 140, 141; relation be-
tween*/- and 194*127; la al-warraqiyya,
the "copyists' ” 23, 140

tit if atm if la huua r "No deity but He" (Sura
28/88), 112

lab at, rank of the Divine, 104
lahi, "tulip," numerical value sixty-six, 92
tafafai, "fineness/ 1 "subtlety," 150
latif, "subtle/’ connected with the lam oia-t-
m t 91; 14ie Subtle, connected with ha,

154

lauh al-n&hf'uz, ai- T see Tablet, the Well-
preserved

lay lot al-qadr, night of the first revelation of
the Koran in late Ramadan, 98
layyin, "soft" round styles of writing like
thuhiik, 22

"letters of the Koran/’ 33, 80, HI, 84
ftqa, silk or cotton ball in the inkwell, 41,

lion, in calligraphy, 112, 198*194

*?, mm, 169m 32, 193*104; "blind/’ of the
scribes, 15, 16, 62, 163* -16; of fern, S3;
as "prostration" in a-f-m, 91; as mouth,

91, 108, 138, 139, 141, 142, 157; numer-
ical value forty, 96. 97; letter of Muham-
mad, 96, 97, 98, 105, 193*106; "shawl of
humanity/’ 97, 154; of Ahmad, 97,

193* 106; khatam a^i-nubwwwa f 98; its bell,
98; o fmufkat, J03; narrow, 138; use in
poetry, 138, 139; connected with/*mr,
154; Divine hearing, 195*144; mim duast , ,
prayer centering on the mm of Muham-
mad, 19^106

madffa, horizontal line over the alif to
lengthen it, 108* 134
Maghribi script, 2, 6, 8, 27, 28, 31, 85
mei'if script, very early "slanting" style, 3, 4
majul "glorious/' the mm in a-Lm, 91
makdtt-i Hifya f "the highest place," sphere of
the sun, 152

ma&iuh, “written," fate, 78
matiima, "blame, ' connected with the tim of
Allah, 103

ma € qUi t early calligraphic style, 3
marbiib , “ruled” by a Divine Name, 149
mashq, “practice," 38, 42, 80; moskaqahu,

“he practiced it,” way of signing a prac-
tice sheet, 44, 171*61
mashq, extension of letters, 9
mast a r t "ruler/ 1 42, 43, 122, 171*58; in po-
etry, 127

math navi y poem in rhyming couplets,
179*158, 184*237
Meccan style of early script, 3
Medinan style of early script, 3
midad, "ink," 12

tnihrab, "prayer niche," 10, 26, 191*51;
eyebrows as, 109

tni c raj, the Prophet’s heavenly journey, 145
mirror script, 32, 84, 113, 171*59
i7iu c amma, "riddle," mainly for the letters of
names, 65

mufmi. The Clear, Clearing, connected with
dal 153

255

nmdhUK I he Lowering, connected with
dhal, l 53

Muhammad taxitl A Hah f numerical value, 92
muiyaqqaq, 22 , 2$, 105,. 1 19, 128, 141, 143,

1 64*67, 1 65^ 68, 187*269; Koran in, 64,
65; inscription in, 69
m uharrtr, “clean copyist,” 12
mu hit. The All-embraqing, connected with
qnj] 150

tmihyi, I’ lie Life Bestowing, connected with
szn, 153

mukhifij, “taken out,” pages taken out by
the calligrapher lor some defects, 44
muhksi, The Counting, connected with fa t
152

muf f “wine," 141

m limit. The Death Bestowing, connected
with sM, 153
munhanf, “slanted, 1 ' 79
mumhi, secretary in an office, 179*148,
184*230

muqaimmr, “hollowed," round scripts like
thuluth, 22

muqla, “eyeball," 19, 129
muqtadir> The Powerful, connected with
shin, 151

muva c at an-uftzv; in poetics, to use words of
one sphere of meaning in a verse, 144
mumqqa L , “album," 65; of Mir- c AIi, 65; of
Tabmasp, 183*216

“chain script,” chancellery script,
15, 163*45

musanmim, hump-like fillers in Kufa inscrip-
tions, 9

muxaunwr, The Former, connected with m,
152

muskaf, “hook," as contrasted to scroll, copy
of the Korans or parts of it, 4, 57,
170*49, 179*162, 197*166
Mush kin- Raqam, “Musk letter/' 68; See
also Mu’min

muwasfishafy, strophic poem in post-classical
Arabic, 103

ft* nun y 95, 99, 194*1 15; Kufic, 5, 8; cres-
cent, 21, 139; heart, 55; primordial
inkwell, 79; in genuflection, 88; light
(from wir), 103, 152; rnisrat, 103; eye-

brows, 108, 109, 129, 139, 141; ear, 157;
n ihaya L 1 e n d ," 195*137 ; D i vi ne spea k i ng,
195* 144; crooked, 204*154; as side lock,
205* 182

ua c am “yes,” from ***, ^ayn, and mm f 141,
206ft 197

tmbiyyi “My prophet," 1 99* 5
Hfuti c Aliyyan, “Call c All, the locus of mani-
festation of wonderful things;' 84,
186*264, 190*45; as lion, 112
* afas-i raiimant , the Divine breath, 1 50
nqfsA hull, Universal Soul, connected with
'he, 14 9

namaz “ritual prayer” in ishtiqoq habit 7 103
naskh script, 2, 22, 23, 24, 27, 29, 36, 48,
54, 58, 59, 62, 64, 71, 73, 83, 87,

164*67, 165*68, 173*83, 186*264,
188*281; Koran in, 15, 52; Indian, 24,
31; Turkish, 7l T 182*206; double mean-
ing with “abolition 78, 130, 143, 1 11,
146, 174*99, 187*269

nastaHiq, 2, 3, 29, 30, 36, 37, 44, 51, 52, 53,
59, 60, 64, 66-70, 73, 120, 159, 163*13,
166*100, 173*83, 173*91; Koran in, 30,
59, 166* 100; Turkish, 53, 178*141; on
seals, 55; inscriptions, 71
muq, “speaker," the Prophet, 91
nayistan, “reed thicket" out of which the
reed pen and the reed flute are cut, 1 19
nisf, “half”: large early chancellery script,

niyya s “intention” before every religious act,
109

ftfh; “light," 103; connected with nun, 152
mtraniyya, the fourteen detached letters at
the beginning of certain suras, 90

p: Persian letter revealed to Fadlullah Hu-
rufi, 107

padishah-i qahm y “emperor of the pen," 70;
See also Khalilullah

paper* 7, 13, 16. 41, 170*52, 170*53; col-
ored, 6, 13; Samarkand i, 14, 41; Khan-
baliq, 15; Daulatabadi, 41; c Adilshahi,

41; Nizamshahh 41; silk, 42; Syrian, 42,
124; European, 81; in poetry, 123, 124,
125

paper shirt, 87, 191*53

256

papyrus, 4, 16, I70w52
parchment: in poetry, 123
peacock script, 32

Pen, Primordial, of Fate, 1, 77-80, 87, 108,
132, 18% 10, 18% II, 20 124; has dried
up, 78; equals First Intellect, 79, 149;
writing pen, I67n-1, 19% 16; reed, 38,

39; servant or lover as, 65, 87, 88, 131;
split, 78; man's heart as, 87; comparisons
in poetry, 116, 117, 20 In 47-50; steel,

117; and sugarcane, 119, 129; and reed
flute, 120, 12 L 20% 41; like Israel's
trumpet, 121; qasida on, 17% 127
pen knife, 39

pigeon: in calligraphy, I 1 1
point, w dot

profession of faith, 9, 10, 24, 10 1 , 104; nu-
merical value of, 92; See ah o shtiiutda

g, qaf, 93, I95nl36; in Maghrihi, 27;

tresses, curls, 137, 205nl74; corresponds
to muhit and the Divine Throne, 150,

154; numerical value, 93, 157; of Hshq,

1 13; of qd?ti c , 198n 198; qtif-t qurb, 138;
qaf-i qand "at, 138

qabid t The Pressing, connected with fa, 153
qahir, The Overpowering, connected with
lam, 152

qalam, "'pen,” 19 In 59; numerical value of
aJ-qalam, 192n81

qmhqa, caste mark of the Hindus, 145
qdtd, deampi master, 55
qaun, The Strong, connected with j'a, 153
qiblal at-k uttab t “direction to which the cal-
ligraphers turn,' 1 51

qirma, “broker,’ 1 chancellery style in Otto-
man Turkey, 24, 144

qudiius. The All -Holy t numerical value 199,
92

qudwaf akkuttdb, “model of the calligra-
phers," 29, 51; See aho Mir- 4 All Tabriz!
qmrd\ pi, of qdri\ "redter of the Koran,’ 1 4

y, id: Kufic, 5; "crooked,” 94; crescent,

136; dagger, 142; connected with mu-
sa wwh, 152; eyebrow, 156; Divine power,
19% 144

rttbb, "lord,” Divine Name that works upon
created beings, 149, 151
mdif\ in Persian poetry the continuing
rhyme of several syllables or words, 10
yufd wk da raj at, ‘Of High Ranks/' con-
nected with umio, 154
Rahim, ar- r The Merciful, 62
Rah man, ar- t 1 he Compassionate, 62,

1 95m 44

mifidn, “sweet basil," 122. 143
rnqmrtuh u, “he wrote it," expression of
modesty, 171^61

m sti “uprightness/ 1 “correctness, " 110
mzzdg, The Nourisher, connected with thd t
153

reed flute, 121, 20%41
nhdni, 15, 22, 23, 119. 122, 143, 147,
164?i67, I83ra2$0; Koran in, 63
riqd h l>old cursive hand, 15, 22, 87, 129,
16477.67; on seals, 55
riq c a, small chancellery script, 23, 24
riydsi, ancient chancellery script, 13
rooster: in calligraphy, 112
mh c , quarter of the Koran. 57
rtoflA, “lance/ 1 comparison for pen, 118
ruler, we mastar

mq r a, piece of paper, 129, I74?i99

s, xdd t in Bihari, 31; eye, 136, 141, 156,
1977*176; connected with mu mit, 153;
"mustache/' 20% 182

& t sit 7, 15, 16, 83; teeth of, and comparison
with teeth, 32, 134, 136, 1 11, 142, 156,
18877281; of him, 62, 83, 95; numerical
value, 93; of mi- was, 103, 112; cypher for
Salman, 98; of sipihr, 137; connected
with rnuhyt, 153; saw, 156
sab € math ant (Sura 15/87), 106
sabk-i Hindi , the Indian style of Persian po-
etry, 122, 127

safma, "boat/ 1 oblong booklet for poetry,
anthology, 30

sahib as-sayf uml-qalmrh" the lord of sword
and pen," title of Muslim princes, 1 18
salat al-huruf, prayer in the sequence of the
alphabet, 105

a aniivhht, “written on the head," fate, 78,
18% 10

257

sauda> " blackness," "melancholia,” "pas-
sion,” 131

Miwiwffohu, “he sketched it” 43, 17 H61
sayyid, descendant of the Prophet, 67
ser-.Kikke-ken t the master of seal-cutting, 56;

his assistant, lTftolSO
Mur t small slate of ebony, 116, 170^46
skim td-nmntaha, as-, “the Lotos-tree of the
utmost end," ftnid station in Paradise,
151, 152

sikke, in the Mevlevi order the high felt
headgear, 112

siht/a, chain of initiation, 36, 53, 68, 72, 82,
120

sin mm r T “cat," 1 16

sipand, “wild rue," burnt against the evil
eye, 134

sitta, al-aqldm as-, “the six styles" as devel-
oped by Yaqur and his disciples, 22
siim, “other” than God, 113
stork, in calligraphy, 111, I98?rl9i
'iultfii! a!‘khtitjaiu} t 30 , See also Sultan- c Ali
suwayda, the little black spot which is sup-
posed to be in the heart, 131
swan: in calligraphy, 112, 198?? 193
sh, shin: connected with muqtadjr, 151; in
poetry, 156; of shahs y, 198/? 198
shitkur. The Grateful, connected with haf,
150

shahada, the profession of faith, 2, 86, 99,
102

Shakarin-Qalam, "Sugar-Pen 29; See also
c Ajbdallah

sham, "Syrian,” script, 13; paper, 124
shau an-auzut, reason for the revelation of
a Koranic verse or sura, 15
shaqq, incision in the pen, 39
sharf c a t the Divinely revealed law, 59,

146

xharapayn, the first lunar mansion, 149
sha fra ftp, see Kufi

shaykh at-tarhiya, the master with whom the
Sufi studies, 45

shtkast, “breaking," favorite expression in
Indo- Persian poetry, 144, 207/?2I7
shikasta, the "broken" style of taHiq calligra-
phy, 31, H I, 173?/H3, I82//202; Fatiha in,
166/? 102

skit am, "binding," 131

t, fa; connected with tjahid, 153; Noah's ark,
155

{. fa; Kufic, 5, 7; connected with wa.flA.yi, 152;

numerical value, 157; o tTaha, 197h176
tatmrrukatt, “for die sake of blessing,” 4, 44;
See also bar aha

Tablet, die Wellpreserved, 1, 78, 79, 80,
106, 150

fafaul, "prognostication,” 109
[aha (Sura 20), 91, means tahU\ 91
tahdiq, "making eyeballs," rounding the let-
ters, 110

tahqvf, “attempting accuracy " 28

fqj, "crown,” the headgear of the dervish,

112

fajnis, "paranomasia," 116
takhnm, “making quintuplets" of a classical
poem, 1 1 6

faHtq, the “hanging" style," 2, 29, 16&/91;
Turkish, 31, 72, 74; Indian* 31; “sus-
pended" 2G7 n219

fanzi[ “sending down” of the revelation,
197// 166

tasin (Sura 27), old numerical value, 91
ktuhtd, [he attestation that there is only one
God, 131

toitqi c , chancellery script, 13, 14, 15, 22, 72,
123, 144 t 1 64?t 67

tauqi% “registration,” document, 42, 174 h99

tawakku[ “trust in God," 88

tekke (Turkish), convent for dervishes, 47,

[tax, inscription in woven material, con-
taining blessing formulas and the names
of the prince or vizier, 8, 120
high tit, the royal hand sign, 16, 55, 144,
178//152; any artistic calligram, 42, 48,

69, 108, 109, 124, 134, 147; eyebrows as,

1 45; as amulets, 198?/ 187
f it ma r, early heavy chancellery script, 12;
fhaqil (heavy)* 13

fh, t ha : for flay aim a m talus, 105; in poetry,
136, 155; connected with tazzaq, 153
ih uluth, “one third,” cursive, round hand,

18, 22, 27, 48, 58, 59, 64, 65, 71, 72, 73,
75, 83, 105, 144, 1 64?/ 67, 183?/ 230,

186/? 264; Koran in, 15, 22 \ jail, 23, 69,

73, 75, 175/? 112; inscriptions in, 25, 69,
71; mirrored, 1 86?? 259

258

umm ul-kifdb "Mother of the Rook/ 1 the
heavenly prototype of the Koran, 107
utnmi, "unlettered/ 5 the Prophet who needs
no literacy hut was inspired solely by
God, 77

unconnected letters of the Koran, 90, 91,
106

Universal body, jism-i hull, corresponds to
khd f 1 50

Universal Form, shokl-i hull, corresponds to
ghayn t 150

Universal Intellect, c aql-t hull, also The Pen,
corresponds to alif, 149, 150
Universal Nature, jahi c at-i kull, corresponds
to c <y*> 150

Universal Soul, nafs-i kuti , also the Well-
preserved Tablet, corresponds to he, 149,
150

vellum, 4, 5, 6. 27

w t 16, 36, 55, 100, 101, 194^ 123;
Kufic, 5; as body, 93; as ear of the
Prophet, 100; as oars* 101; as water hub-
bies, 140; in c Amr f HO; conjunction, 34Q T
154; corresponds to r#/j c ad-darajat, 154;
as mallet, 157; in ishtiqdq habir, 1 90a J 01;
of hmva ? 198^200

tiw hi ghaliba ilia A Hah, "And there is no
victor but God/ 1 emblem of the Nasrid
kings of Granada, 86
wahdat, "unity/' 89

umhidiyyti, "the state of being One/ 5 89
ivajh, "face/ 1 numerical value fourteen, 106

ivajh ahhur, "cat's face/ 1 initial form of >if,

rntqft "pious foundation/ 5 4

urnrmq, "copyist/ 1 12, 56

wa $li, "album page/ 1 54 T 56, 173 n81,

178p? I

was$ali t preparation of cardboard for al-
bum pages, 54, I78nl38
Water of life, ink, 122, 20H50
wu<Ju\ ablution after minor impurities, 37

y, yd: numerical value, 93; corresponds to
n I- Tnawfdid; ot c All as sword, 102; as ya~
min, 141; connected with rabb, 151; with
Saturn, 151, 154

yabiy, "dry/* sharp edged styles like mu
haqqaq , 23

yrief , "hand/ 5 numerical value fourteen, 106;

yad-i tfda t "special power/ 5 74
yasiit (Sura 36/1), 91; as tresses, 197 h 176
ymm “left hand/ 1 177m 136

z, zd: as eyebrow, 156; connected with the
spheres, 93; connected with fyayy, 153; zi-
yddnt, 103

z,zd: connected with c azii, 153; numerical
value, 157

pdhir. The Outward connected with ghayn,
150

Ztirnn-quUim y "Golden Pen/ 1 51; See also
Muhammad Husayn, Ni^amuddin
zh, Persian letter revealed to Fadlullih Hu-
run, 107

259

Index of
Koran and Prophetic

Kemn (qur’an), Si, 82, 35, 36, 37, 47, 51,

57, 58, 62, 78, 80-84, 86, 04, 102, 103,
106, 1 32, 143, 157, 161*5, 162*15,
167ns, 169*36, 179*162; hi Kuh, 3, 4, 5,
8, 10, 12, 19, 82, 92; pocket, 6, ISO?/ 165;
in Eastern Ku6, 7, 163n£3; Karmathian
Kuh, 7, 1 62ft 23; in colors, 15; in naskk,
15, 24; in thvhtth, 15, 22; in ruukh and
thuiuth alternating, 22; in ghuh&r script,
24; in gold, 25; in nastaHfq, 30, 59,

1 66a 1 00; in muhuqqaq, 64, 65; in tihatid
1 64ft 67; in Maghribi, 27; on colored pa-
per, 6; on papyrus, 12; on Khanhaliq pa-
per, 15; written by c Othman ibn c Affan,
4; by Ibn al-Bawvvab, 19, 57, 164*62; by
Baysonghur Mirza, 25, 64; by Ibn al-
Lu c aybiya, 41, 170*49; by Malika-jahan,
47; by c Azjz Rifa e l, 48, 174*94; by c Ab-
dallah Arghun, 49; by c Abdallah -i Har-
avl, 52; by Mu harmnad fi Alatn “with am-
putated hands,” 54, 178ft 137; by Ibn
Muqla, 56; by Yaqut, 57, I85n£39; by
Na$rullah Qandahari, 57; by Hajj] Mu-
hammad Bandduz, 57; by Muhammad
as-Sufi 57; by c Ali ai-Qari, 57, 179ft 163;

np 1 * ■

1 raditions

by Mehmet Kaiserili, 58; by Va$fi Efendi,
58; by Shaykh Hamdullab, 60, 72; by
Mas c Cid 1 of Ghazni, 63; by Ibrahim ibn
MasTid of Ghazni, 63; by Tughrul HI,
63; by Ibrahim Mirza, 63, 182*206; by
Bahrain Mirza ibn Uma c TI as-Saf;ni, 65;
by Kastruddin of Delhi, 66; by Babur,

66; by Dara-Shikoh, 68, I85n246; by Au-
rangzeb, 68, 1 86ft 251; by Ahmad Qara-
bi^arl, 73; by Hafif Osman, 74, 92; by
Yedikuleli, 74; by Sultan Ahmad III, 74;
by Suluin Mehmet 111, 75; by Ahmad an-
Nuwayrl, 1 79n 1 65; by Abu c Abdur-Raz-
zaq as-Sabuni, 1 7 9?i 167; by Mehmet
Rasim, ISO™ 170; by Hasan Chelebi,

187ft 2 79; Af ushuf al-haditm, 6; copying as
expiation for sins, 84; prognostication
from, 86; human face, as, 107- 110, 145,
197ft 166, 1 97ft 176
Koranic suras;

Sura, i, al-Faiiha, 82, 195ft 137; in shi-
kasUi, 1 66ft 102; face as, 197*176
Sura 2, 91, 141; verse 151, 11; verse 256,
“Throne- verse,” 84, 154
Sura, 3, verse 15, 105; verse 37, 197*176

260

Sura 58, ISGj/170

Sura 10, verse 62, 189m 18
Sura 12, 109; verse 18, 168>)20
Sura 15, verse 87, 106
Sura 17, verse E 4, 189m 18
Sura 18, AI-kahf, 18, 25; verse 47,
189**18

Sura 19, verse 1, k-h-y- c -$, 91
Sura 20, Jdhd, 91, 197«176
Sura 21, verse 30, 158; verse 107* 58
Sura 21, verse 35, "Light Verse/ 1 26,
174w93
Sura 27, 84
Sura 28/88, 1 13, 147
Suras 29 to 32, 91
Sura 31 , verse 28, 82
Sura 38, verse 40, 26
Sura 34, verse 3, 189nl9
Sura 36, Vasin, 91, I92i*75* 197**3 76
Sura 38* Sdd, 197**176
Sura 42, verse 9 1

Sura 44, verse 10, 107
Sura 48* verse l, 118; verse 29, 79
Sura 51* verse i, 108
Su r a 5 5 , Ay- R ah md a, 19- hi [ 1 5

Sura 56* verse 79* 37

Sura 61, verse 5, 97; verse 13, 85*

190**45

Sura 68, Nun wa'i-qatom, 77, 78, 79, 88,
93, 109, 205h 183; last verses* 86
Sura 69, verses 19 to 25, 1 89 m 18
Sura 76, verse 21, 105
Sura 81, verses (-3, 5
Sura 83, verse 11, 80; 7-12, 189m 18
Sura 93, verse l, 109
Sura 96* verse 3, 78
Sura 1 12* aL-Ikhttg, 33, 113, I97ul76;

written on a grain of rice* 165**78
Sura 1 14, An-Nds, form of its final s 103,
1 06)i J06

Hwhth, Prophetic tradition, 59, 75, 79, 81,
86, 87* 101, 116, 140* I64»67, 180**167,
187 m 270* 19 4m 125

Collections of forty hadtih, 58* 18lwl?9;
without diacritical dots, 104; pertaining
to writing* I7l*t63, 172to80* 189nl4^i22
Hadith qudsi (extra- koranic revelation), 97,
19352106, I96« 152

261

Index
of Book Titles

A m Akbari (Abu’l Fail), 67
Ai khldq-i Ndsiri (Nasiruddin af-Tu&1), written
by c Ambann-Qalam, 184ra238
Akhamatm (Abu'FFail) written by Zarrln-
Qalam, 184n232
Alfiyya (Ibn Malik), 176nll3
A Ifiyya ft mn c ali 'l-khatt ( Zay n uddln ), 17 4w 97
Alifnuma (Qasim-t K a I’ll), 105
Arabian Nights, 16, 18, 36 f 133
Arabic Palaeography (R, Monti), 164«49
Asrar al-kuruf ( C A bdul-Kartm al - jilt), 1 73 n 89
c Atf al-alif at-ma'lwf ila’l-l&m al-maHuf (Day-
iaml) p 101, 104

Baku ntfi mu, 1 98tf 1 8 5

Bahamtan (Jami), written by Zarrin-Qatam,

184^232

Baydawf s commentary on the Koran, 59,

180m 172

Burda t qa$idat al- (al-Bu$iii}, 59, 86, 118,

18 In 190, 19 In 47; written by £ Aiiy.

Riia c 1, 174 h 94; written by Sultan- c Al1,
IdQri 173

Al-brnhan ft wujuh al-haym (Ibn Wahb),

I72?t 79

Calligraphic Artihe Vivante (Massoudy), 120,
I67rc 1 10

DaUiil al-khayrai ijazuil), 58, 1 Bin 182
Dastiir al- c \tshshaq (Fattahl), 64
Divan of Anvari, 60; of Ghalib, Persian,

1 9 In 53, Urdu, 87; of written by

Sultan- 11 All, 60, 68; for prognostication,
19 l*t 52; of SuHan Husayn Bayqara, cut
out by c Ali, 55; written by Sul|an- c Ali,

18 In 179; of Ibn al- Farid, written by e All
ai-Qarl, 1 79n 1 63 ; of Kalim, I8lnl87; of
Khaqam, 60; of Muframmad-Quli
Qutbshah, 25, 165?i81; of RumI, 87; of
Sa’ib, written by Mehmet Eflatun,

18 In 177 of Shahi, 60, written by Say v id
Ahmad Mashhadi, I80nl76
Duval Ram Khidr Khan (Amir Khusrau),
written by Mir Dauri, 1S4»23 1

Encyclopedia of Islam, 2

Fihtist (Ibn an-Nadim) t 22
Forty Sayings of L Ali t 60

Ghayth al-musajjam, al- (Safadl), 134
Golden Alphabet, sihatfi, 105, 196^153

262

Gulistdn ($a c di} + written by Zarnn-Qalam,
184^232

Guhhan-i raz (Shabistari), 60, 174«91
Gulzar-i savdb (Nefeszade), 73, 74
Guy u Chaugan ( c Arifi), written by Shah
Tahmasp, 64

f^adiqat al-kaqiqa (Sanal), written by Sultan-
c Ali t I85w244

Haft Paykar (Ni?ami), written by Azban,

I76nl23

Hamzanama, written by Mir Dauri, 67; writ-
ten by Mir-Kalang, Hafiz Muhammad
Amin and others, I84rc230, 184n235
Haqlqat ol-haqd ’iq 0 A bduf- Ka rim at- j Hi) ,
194n 117

Hiddyetn&ma (Fad In I la h Hiirufi), 196k: 163
Hikam L ala-huruf at- mufam, ah (Mirghanl),
195 k 152

Houghton Shahnama, 65

Hiim y *$k (Shaykh Ghalib), 142

fhya’ c ulum ad-din (Ghazzah), B8

Kkamsa (Amir Khusrau), written by Zarrin-
Qalam), I84n232

Khamsa (Mir c AlI Shir Naval), written by
SuItan- c Ali t 18 1 79
Khamsa (Nizami), 59. written by Zarrin-
Qalam in ghubdr, 65; written by c Am-
berin-Qalam, 68; written by A^hari,

176w 1 23

Khali ii khattatan (Habib), 72, 75
Kkusrau u Shinn (Nizami), written by
Azhari, I76n. 123

Kitdh al-aghfmi (Abu f ]-Fara} al- Isfahan!)

written by Ibn al-Khazin, I79nl62
Kitdb ftl-Hmd (Birunl), 123
j Kitdb fil-kaidm e . aid huruf ism Muhammad
(Bistiim]), 196k 152
Kitdb ai-muwashshd (Al-Washsha)* 25
Kitdb apfawa&in (Al-Hattaj), 91
KiMh-i nauras (Ibrahim 11 c Adilshah), writ-
ten by c I$matuiah, 70; by Mir Khaliiul-
lah, 70 t 71, 165 k 81

Kiifih shauq tU-mmtakam (Ibn YVahshiyya),
105

Kuiliydi-i $a*ib t written by Me h met Eftaiun,
18 In 177

Ldmiyyat aP c Ajam (Tugbra'i), 55
Layla a Majnun (Nizami), I95n 139,

206n 203

Ma 'atkir- t rahtmi ( c Abdul- Baql Nibawandt),
184n237

Majma c al-shu c ard~i Jahdngm (Qati c i).
178nH3 T 184n230

Mandqib -i hunarvaran ( c All Efendi), 49, 73
Mantiq tit- toy r ( c Attar), 111
Maqdmdi al- Hariri, written by Ibn al-Kha-
zin, 179 k 162

Mayahih as-sunna (aFBaghawi), written by
Shaykh Hamdullah, 187n270
Maskariq al-anwdr (a§-$aghani), 59, written
by Shaykh Hamdullah, 187k270
Mathnam (Riimi), 59, GO, 88, 120, 189n3,
200ra41; written by lsma c ll Cevri,

173n9l; prognostication from, 86
Mift&h ai-khutut (Riza- c Ali Shah), ] 74 k 92
MP-rdjiyya (Ghanizade), 207n222
Miskh&t al-masdbih (At-TabrTzl), 59
Munajdt ( c Abdallah-i Ansai i), 60

Nafa’is al-ma'athir { c Ala*uddauia Qazumi),
184n2m

Pandn&ma ( c A\\ar), written by Vasfi Efendi,
58

Rdhat a$-fudur (Ibn ar-RFiwandl}* 17
RiPtyya (Ibn al-Bawwnh), I74n96, I89n l9
Risal& i qufbiyya (Qutbuddin Yazd]), 13
Rudta of Majnun, 174n99
Ruby Alif (Qadi Muhammadb 196 k 154

Sahih ai-B ukhdri, 58, 59
Shahistdn-i khaydl (Fattalil), 18 2 k 210
Shdhndma (Firdosi), 65, 128
■Shifa (Avicenna), written by Vaqut, 37
Shtja (Qad! c I yad ), 58; written by Vasfi
Efendi, 59

Siharft (Golden Alphabet), 105, 196?iI53
Sired as-sutm. Sirdt ai-kiiatt (Suit an- 11 Ah), 37

263

$trr-i dUbaran (Shauqi), 149
Splendour of hiamk. Calligraphy (Khatibi an.fl
Sijehnasi), 27

Subfj al-aHha (Qalqashandh, 12; autograph
copy, I63ri37

Subhat al-abfdr (Janu), 60, 61

Tdrikh-i Marumi (Mir Ma c $tim N atiii),
184n234

Ttirikh-i Tahiti ('Tahir Nisyarn), 1 89»298
Tatfuman <d-a$hwaq (I bn c Arabl), 206ft 1 93
Taslnh a(-tuyur (Sana 1 !), 1 1 1
Tuhfat ai-ahrdr (JamT), 96
1'iirhlerde yazl sanati (Bal Lncloglu), 110

Unmiidhaj al-labtb (SuyQp), written by Meh-
met Rasim, 1 B0?i 370

z Umdat al-kuttab wa H ddat dhawt t-albab (I bn
Badts), 162^21
U&hhttmma ( c Attar), 94

West-OstUcher Divan (Goethe), 2

Yusuf Ztdaikha (Ha nidi), 174«93
Yusuf u Zuhikha ( Jaml), 59: written by Mh-
c All, 186n240

Zafarmma (Sharafuddin Yazdi), 1 82?? 2 03

264

Ill die, but all that I have
written remains™

1 wish that whoever reads
my book may pray
for me.

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